|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| Paul Winter's Summer Solstice Celebration - June 19 PAUL WINTER'S 26th ANNUAL SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION "LIGHT OF THE SUN" A LIVESTREAM CONCERT FROM PAUL WINTER'S BARN IN THE HILLS OF NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT WITH SPECIAL GUESTS, WORLD-RENOWNED CELLIST EUGENE FRIESEN AND VOCALIST THERESA THOMASON 4:30 A.M. EDT, SATURDAY, JUNE 19, 2021 PAUL WINTER / SOPRANO SAX THERESA THOMASON / VOCALS EUGENE FRIESEN / CELLO HENRIQUE EISENMANN / PIANO JEFF BORATKO / BASSOON VIDEO ON DEMAND OF THE CONCERT AVAILABLE THROUGH AUGUST 31ST, 2021 "Our most profound event of the year." – Paul Winter Seven-time Grammy winner Paul Winter's 26th annual Summer Solstice Celebration will take place virtually on June 19, 2021 at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time from the cathedralesque loft of Paul Winter's barn in the hills of northwest Connecticut. The concert will be livestreamed, with on-demand video available following the event. Vocalist Theresa Thomason, whose exquisite, exuberant and exhilarating singing voice has been beloved by the audiences of the Consort's Winter Solstice Celebrations for the past 25 years, will be the featured guest singer. "I have long felt that Theresa may well be the greatest yet-to-be-discovered singer on the planet, " says Winter. Theresa is featured in the Paul Winter Consort's recent album Everybody Under the Sun. Theresa Thomason, World-renowned cellist Eugene Friesen and Paul Winter will be part of a unique "Summer Consort, " which will also include Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann and bassoonist Jeff Boratko. Eugene Friesen has gained an international reputation as perhaps the most innovative cellist of our time. "When I first imagined, in the 1960s, having cello as a primary instrument in the Consort, my dream was to find a rare-bird player who could liberate this soulful instrument from its symphonic shackles and play with the kind of personal voice that my favorite jazz players have on their instruments. Eugene Friesen has taken the cello way beyond, " says Paul Winter. "While being a masterful player in the classical tradition, Eugene has become arguably the most creative improvising cellist on the planet. But above all, what I treasure most is his sound ... his singular voice. He gets a robust, warm, 'fat' sound, using thicker strings, playing on a fairly standard contemporary cello, in contrast to the thinner, more nasal sound of a Stradivarius being pushed hard to project to the back row of Carnegie Hall. And Eugene does not have the automatic vibrato that seems to be favored by classical string players. He uses vibrato judiciously, but he often employs the straight tone of a horn." As cellist of the Paul Winter Consort during the past four decades, Eugene Friesen has been an integral part of Paul Winter's annual solstice events, both summer and winter. However, because the ensemble's beloved "home forum, " New York's Cathedral of St John the Divine, has been closed since last spring due to the Covid pandemic, Paul Winter has reinvented the wheel and produced these events in his barn. Given the concerns about travel over the last year, it didn't feel appropriate for Eugene Friesen to come to Connecticut from his home in Vermont in 2020. Hence, the 2021 Summer Solstice Celebration will mark Friesen's "debut performance" in the barn. Henrique Eisenmann is a young Brazilian pianist with deep roots in classical music and jazz, as well as the gamut of unique Brazilian genres. He came to the U.S. several years ago to study at New England Conservatory, where he is now on the faculty. He also teaches at City College of New York and is teaching improvisation to piano students at Juilliard. His first recorded collaboration with Paul Winter is on Winter's recent album Light of the Sun. Paul Winter describes Jeff Boratko as a "budding Renaissance man" who is a superb bassoonist and composer. "And he's the only bassoonist I know, " continues Winter, "who is also an accomplished singer-songwriter." write your comments about the article :: © 2021 Jazz News :: home page |