Paul Winter is a renowned saxophonist, composer and leader of the Paul Winter Consort. He is an artist in residence at New York's Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and the co-creator of the Earth Mass or Missa Gaia.This music is a center piece of the yearly Pet Blessing.

Paul grew up in Altoona, Pennsylvania and later attended Northwestern University in Illinois. There in 1961, he formed the Paul Winter Sextet and was soon signed to Columbia Records. In 1962 the group was selected by theUnited States State Department to tour Latin America as cultural ambassadors. It was while in Brazil that Winter became interested in the emerging bossa nova scene and gained an appreciation for music of other cultures. In 1965 the Paul Winter Sextet released the bossa nova influenced album "Rio".

In 1967 Paul changed the name of the Sextet to the Paul Winter Consort. Their 1972 album "Icarus", produced by Beatles' producer George Martin, brought the group to international prominence with its mixture of jazz, classical and world music.

Paul Winter's music has embraced the traditions of jazz, bossa nova, world and earth music. He has won 6 Grammy Awards, most recently Best New Age Album of 2007 for “Crestone: A Celebration of the World of Crestone”. Much of Paul Winter's music has been recorded in natural environments such as mountains and deserts and incorporates the natural atmospheric sounds of those places.

In 1981, Rev. James Parks Morton, Dean of the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, asked Paul Winter to compose contemporary music for the Mass.  Paul expanded this idea to include celebrating the whole Earth as a sacred space. As well, he blended the voices of wolves and whales into the music. This became the Earth Mass or Missa Gaia. The Paul Winter Consort debuted the Missa Gaia on Mother’s Day of 1981 at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. The Consort performs the Earth Mass every October at the cathedral as part of the Saint Francis Day Blessing of Animals.

The Paul Winter Consort and the hauntingly beautiful music of the Missa Gaia are featured in our St. Francis animal blessing documentary, “A Celebration of Creation”.