Paul Winter’s 28th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration at Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City

The Paul Winter Consort’s 2007 Winter Solstice Celebration will take place at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City December 13, 14 and 15 of 2007. The event will showcase music from two new albums, and present special guests Native American singer/drummer/flutist John-Carlos Perea, and Brazilian singer/guitarist Renato Braz. The program will premiere music from the Consort’s recently released new album, Crestone, as well as songs from Renato Braz’ forthcoming North America debut album, Renato Braz. Featured in the Solstice concerts, as on both of these albums, will be long-time Consort players Paul McCandless, on oboe and bass clarinet, and cellist Eugene Friesen.
 
 The Crestone album celebrates the Crestone/Sangre de Cristo Mountains/Great Sand Dunes/San Luis Valley region of southern Colorado. The primary recordings for the album were done in the natural acoustics of North Crestone Lake, at an altitude of 11,800 feet in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The voice, pow-wow drum and cedar flute of John-Carlos Perea are featured in the album, in his recording debut.Renato Braz, Brazil’s heralded new young singer/guitarist will be taking part in the Winter Solstice Celebration for the third time. In his new album, Renato Braz, produced by Paul Winter, he is accompanied by the Consort along with an array of Brazilian musicians. During the program, John-Carlos Perea and Renato Braz will be singing  together for the first time, in honor of their respective Indian heritage of North and South America. Perea is of Apache descent, and Braz’ parents are Guarani Indians from the Mato Grosso region of Brazil.
 
 This year’s event will take advantage of a new creative opportunity that has arisen for the acoustic instrumentation of the Consort, as a result of the temporarily reduced performing space inside the Cathedral. The entire Nave of the Cathedral is presently closed, with a floor-to-ceiling wall, as part of the on-going restoration work to clean the Cathedral from the smoke damage caused by the fire of 2001.
 
 This December’s Winter Solstice Celebration will take place entirely in the Crossing and the Great Choir of the Cathedral, and there will be a limited seating capacity of only 900, instead of the usual 2800 seats of the full Cathedral. The program will offer as intimate a musical experience as one might have in the cavernous space under the 150′ dome of the Cathedral. The giant ascending Sun Gong, as well as the Earth Ball, which have become traditional in the Consort’s Winter Solstice events, will still be part of the presentation.
 
 Other Consort players will include pianist Paul Sullivan and Cathedral organist Tim Brumfield.
 
 Performances will be on:
 – Thursday 13 December at 8pm
 – Friday 14 December at 8pm
 – Saturday 15 December at 2pm
 – Saturday 15 December at 8pm
 
 Tickets priced $75 for reserved seats and $42 and $32 for general admission seats are on sale now from TicketWeb:
 – online from http://www.ticketweb.com (direct link from www.livingmusic.com/solstice)
 – by phone from (866) 468-7619.
 
 More about the 28th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration: http://www.livingmusic.com/solstice/wintersolstice.html