Paul Winter's Solstice Celebration
Seven-time Grammy®-winning saxophonist Paul Winter, with the Paul Winter Consort, will present their legendary Winter Solstice Celebration on Thursday at Woolsey Hall.
For decades, the Paul Winter Consort presented their Winter Solstice Celebration in the world’s largest Cathedral, New York’s St. John the Divine, where it was beloved as New York’s holiday alternative to The Nutcracker and Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular. Since the pandemic, the event has not taken place in New York, and the Consort is now bringing it to the finest acoustic halls in New England in a ten-venue tour.
The Consort includes Paul Winter, soprano sax; Eugene Friesen, cello; Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann; Bulgarian bassist Peter Slavov; Brazilian drummer Rogerio Boccato; organist Tim Brumfield; and the beloved voice of Theresa Thomason.
"The renowned Woolsey Hall organ, with its 12,641 pipes, rivals in size the great Aeolian-Skinner organ of our home forum, New York's Cathedral of St. John the Divine, where Tim was organist for many years," Winter says. "However, being in a space considerably smaller than that of the world's largest cathedral, the Woolsey organ embraces the audience with extraordinary power. It is the most glorious organ I've ever heard."
The Winter Solstice Celebration is a contemporary take on ancient solstice rituals, when people felt a calling to come together on the longest night of the year, to welcome the return of the Sun and birth of the new year