PAUL WINTER’S SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION

Paul Winter’s 31st Annual Summer Solstice Celebration will be June 20th, 2026, from 4:30 am to 6:00 am at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC

Artist in Residence Paul Winter and the Paul Winter Consort return to celebrate the longest day of the year at the Cathedral.

“This event is our musical welcome to the summer. Summer Solstice is one of the great turning points of the year, when the sun is at its peak and the days abound with the promise of life’s fullness. My dream, with this sunrise celebration, is to offer an experience of this resonance, in the mystical ambience of these early morning hours, through a deep listening journey within the awesome space of this largest Cathedral in the world. Our music begins in total darkness, and proceeds in a continuous flow, emanating from different places in the Cathedral. Gradually, as the great stained glass windows begin to illuminate, the light joins the sound to carry us into the first dawning of the summer.” – Paul Winter

 Dave Haughey changes the way people think about the cello. His holistic approach to modern cello playing encompasses myriad genres and techniques, making him one of the most versatile cellists in the world today. He is a performer, improviser, composer, and teacher who is always searching for new ways to expand the unique capabilities of the cello, thus expanding the path to a world where the instrument is known not only for its place in classical music but also as a versatile and ubiquitous tool for music making in any genre.

Drawing inspiration from different world genres, chants, voices, poems and languages, Henrique Eisenmann is changing the paradigm of contemporary improvisation, creating an original musical universe that is powerfully inventive, authentic and accessible to anyone

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Eisenmann has always been intrigued with the idea of translating different musical sonorities to the piano. Eisenmann focuses on unique collaborations with artists from all different fields: dancers, poets, actors and social activists. Among his latest releases, the 2017 album “The Free Poetics of Henrique Eisenmann”  (Red Piano Records) has drawn unanimous praise from critics across the world. Eisenmann has performed in numerous international jazz festivals and has worked with dozens of outstanding musicians such as Gunther Schuller, Luciana Souza, Matti Caspi and Tom Zé. 

Henrique is part of the jazz piano faculty at the New England Conservatory in Boston, serves as a professor of music at CUNY (BMCC), and is the Artistic Director of Jazz Lab.

Tim Brumfield enjoys an extraordinary career as a performer, arranger, composer and producer. He currently serves as Director of Music Ministry, Organist and Choirmaster at St. Gregory’s Episcopal Church, Boca Raton, Florida and previously served as Cathedral Organist at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. As Organist at the world’s largest gothic Cathedral, he performed with such renowned artists as pianist Dave Brubeck, drummer Max Roach, and legendary folk singer Judy Collins, among others. He has been featured on National Public Radio and toured with the Cathedral Choristers both in the USA and throughout England with performances at the famed Salisbury and St. Paul’s Cathedrals. He is considered one of the world’s finest organ improvisers, tours regularly as a solo organist and pianist, and is often asked to lecture on the art of improvisation. He has been a member of the Grammy award winning Paul Winter Consort since 1998 and has toured Europe performing in Denmark, Italy and in France at the world famous Notre Dame Cathedral. Tim recently received the distinguished award of Honorary Fellow from the National College of Music, London.

THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE

Manhattan’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine is more than a site of liturgy. It’s a home for the human spirit, meant to uplift, inspire awe, unite, and give refuge. It’s the perfect location for Paul Winter Consort’s ongoing exploration of the turning of the seasons and the tuning of the soul.

The world’s largest cathedral, St. John the Divine is also one of its most extraordinary performance venues. The length of two football fields and tall enough to fit the Statue of Liberty under its dome, it was designed with sacred geometry to be a transformative space.

Known since the ’80s as the “Green Cathedral” and as an incubator for art, St. John the Divine became the center of a vital community of thinkers and seekers working on issues of ecology, environment, and world peace. It represented a global forum, where you could listen to the Dalai Lama, Buckminster Fuller, Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Gary Snyder, Thomas Berry, the Mayor of Jerusalem, Cesar Chavez, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Secretaries General of the United Nations.

The Cathedral’s vastness overwhelms differences and welcomes and affirms diversity. It has been the perfect venue for the Paul Winter Consort’s Earth-embracing events, within the genre of “Earth Music,” in their aspiration to celebrate the cultures and creatures of the whole Earth. Since they began, the Winter Solstice Celebrations have been a forum for world music performers from around the globe.

But the music is only one layer. Over the years the Winter Solstice Celebrations have evolved into a theatrical extravaganza that inhabits the entirety of the Cathedral’s cavernous space. A giant gong, the world’s largest, rises with its player to the 100-foot vault of the Cathedral at the symbolic point of the Sun’s return; a 28-foot spiral aluminum “Solstice Tree,” adorned with a multitude of bells, gongs, and chimes, to symbolize the diversity of the species, becomes a part of the music; and a giant Earth-globe comes through the Nave and ascends over the center-stage.

“Of all the places I’ve played in the world,” Winter says, “ only two could host an event on this scale: the Cathedral and the Grand Canyon.”

SOLSTICE TRADITION

The two great celestial milestones of the year, the Summer and Winter Solstices, are perhaps humanity’s most ancient ritual observances. People paused at these times to reflect upon the journey of life, with its trials, blessings, hopes and promise.

The word ‘solstice’ comes from the Latin ‘sol’ (sun) and ‘stitium’ (to stand still). Summer Solstice occurs when the Sun reaches its northernmost point from the equator and seems to pause before reversing its course; at the Winter Solstice the Sun attains its southernmost point and, once again, seems to stand still before turning back.

The Sun, our great golden star, is the source of our life, and each of our lives is a multi-faceted journey with the Sun. On one level, we are cycling through each day and night, as the Earth rotates from dawn to dawn in the light of the Sun. On another, we are traveling through each year, being carried 584 million miles by the Earth as it swings around the Sun from one Summer Solstice to the next. Simultaneously, we are riding with the Sun as our entire Solar System travels within the Milky Way galaxy, which itself is one of the dozen galaxies in what astronomers call our Local Group. And this whole Local Group of galaxies, in turn, is revolving around the Virgo Cluster of 2000 galaxies, 53 million light-years distant from us.

Making music at Solstice is one way to celebrate our amazing journey. If, in our listening, we are carried by the music, then perhaps the experience of that moment can be a hologram of the entire journey. In reality, the journey is right now, wherever we are. And when we are listening, each moment is the beginning.

Thank you for being part of our ongoing Solstice journey.