Paul Winter. Photo by Matthew Muise
Grammy award-winning saxophonist Paul Winter is bringing his storied Winter Solstice show to Maine for the first time with a trio of performances this weekendin Portland, Orono and Rockport.
The Winter Solstice Celebration is a modern interpretation of ancient solstice rituals meant to welcome the return of the sun on the longest night of the year.
The Paul Winter Consort features cellist Eugene Friesen, pianist Henrique Eisenmann, bassist Peter Slavov, drummer Rogerio Boccato and vocalist Theresa Thomason. The shows also feature recordings of whales and wolves – something that has been part of Winter’s shows for decades.
For 40 years, the solstice shows happened at St. John the Divine, one of the world’s largest cathedrals, in New York City.
The last one was in 2019 because of the pandemic and ongoing church renovations.
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Last December, a handful of solstice shows were performed in Vermont, New York state and Massachusetts.
Although this is the first time Winter will perform his solstice show in Maine, he did play a pair of shows in Orono and Portland in July of 1988 with the Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers from Russia and has made a smattering of appearances through the years in places like Camden and Blue Hill.
Winter’s connection to Maine stems from the late ’60s when he came to visit Helen and Scott Nearing. The Nearings were at the forefront of the back-to-the-land movement, and their 1954 book “Living the Good Life” resonated with Winter profoundly.
“Their example gave me tremendous encouragement toward an alternative way of living. So, for a number of years after that, I made a pilgrimage to their farm in Harborside,” Winter said in an interview last week.
Blue Hill resident Noel Paul Stookey – of Pater, Paul and Mary fame – is another Maine friend of Winter. Stookey produced Winter’s first two albums in the late ’60s and will be joining him at the Orono show Saturday.
Winter, 85, was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and has called Litchfield, Connecticut, home for 49 years. He also has a home in Brazil.
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Winter plays the soprano saxophone and said he likes that particular type of sax because the sound projects well, especially during outdoor performances.
He owns three saxophones from the late ’50s/early ’60s made by the French company Selmer. They’re treasured possessions because that particular model is no longer made.
As to how Winter has kept his career going for so long, he said playing every day, if possible, and some form of self-care are among his secrets.
“Specifically with the horn, it’s definitely your breathing endurance and also the muscles of the mouth that you need to keep in shape,” he said. “The rest is just really what I do as a person to keep feeling good, and it involves being out in the woods every day. I live on a farm, so there’s always things to keep you moving.”
Winter also talked about what audience members can expect at the Maine shows and why centering them around the winter solstice is so important.
“One of the things that I really love about the milestone of the solstice is it’s a grand embrace of all northern cultures on the planet. The diversity has always been a hallmark of our repertoire, and certainly of the solstice event, so there are pieces that feature each of the players,” he said. Along with the U.S., members of Winter’s band are from Brazil and Bulgaria.
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The set will include Brazilian, African, Irish, Middle Eastern and other pieces that incorporate what Winter refers to as “the greatest symphony,” meaning the sounds of the whale and the wolf and a new one that’s infused with the sound of a wood thrush.
Winter also singled out“Sound Over All Waters,” featuring vocals from Thomason. “Theresa Thomason is, I think, one of the great female voices on the planet, and it’s still a well-kept secret.”
She’ll be singing a song that Winter think best conveys the meaning of solstice. “It’s an amazing song that Paul Halley (Winter’s former keys player) wrote that’s based on a poem written in the late 1860s by John Greenleaf Whittier after the Civil War. “It’s very much about bringing back the sun, bringing back the heart in life and about forgiveness, and it’s absolutely right up the solstice alley.”
The Paul Winter Consort will also be performing a new piece called “A Song for Roger.” “It’s about Roger Payne, a biologist and environmentalist who brought to the world the sound of humpback whales in the 1970s that changed my musical life,” said Winter.
IF YOU GO
Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Celebration
7 p.m. Friday. Hannaford Hall at the University of Southern Maine, 88 Bedford St., Portland, $50, $65. eventbrite.com
Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Celebration with Noel Paul Stookey
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Collins Center for the Arts, University of Maine, 2 Flagstaff Road, Orono, $35 to $50. collinscenterforthearts.com
Paul Winter’s Winter Solstice Celebration
3 p.m. Sunday. Rockport Opera House, 6 Central St., $50, $65. rockportoperahouse.org
