Yukiko will join the Paul Winter Consort for the 16th Annual Summer Solstice Concert at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine on Saturday, June 18, 2011.

There’s Magic in the Early Morning Time

When I’m awake in the darkness before dawn — as the birds begin to sing and the Earth prepares for the Sun — it feels like the world is beginning again. There’s something precious about that virginal early morning time, when we’re free of our habitual patterns and obligations. It was my dream of evoking this ambience in music that was the original inspiration for Summer Solstice.

At 4:30 a.m., in total darkness, we embark on a continuous two-hour musical journey, with players stationed in distant corners or moving among the audience. At some point we hear the first birds of the morning chorus, who always seems to blend with the music. Before long we sense that the Cathedral’s great stained-glass windows are slowly beginning to illuminate with the first light of the sun. The growing light sparks the music, and rhythmic energy begins to emerge.

This is the perfect space, and event, for the music from our new album Miho: Journey to the Mountain. The unfolding journey in the album, from contemplative to celebrative is an analog to this gradual evolution from the darkness to the dawn.    – Paul Winter

More info and tickets at: http://solsticeconcert.com