By Randi Bjornstad
Missa Gaia translates roughly to “earth mass,” taken from the Latin missa, referring to a religious service, and gaia, Greek for earth and also the name of the primordial goddess of life Gaia, sometimes spelled Gaea, in Greek mythology.
As a piece of music, Missa Gaia dates to 1982, when Paul Winter and his group, the Paul Winter Consort, were artists in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City’s upper east side.
Soprano saxaphonist Winter and collaborators Oscar Castro-Neves, Paul Halley, Kim Oler, and Jim Scott, wrote the mass for the cathedral, but it went far beyond the usual liturgical components, adding sounds representing animals and plants — birds, whales, wolves, snakes, cats, llamas, trees, even algae — and celebrating musical traditions ranging from classical liturgical to Latin American to African to gospel to jazz.
But Missa Gaia also has a much more serious meaning — and even more timely now — as far as Earth itself is concerned. The idea behind it is based on the Gaia hypothesis, developed 50 years ago when British chemist James Lovelock and American biologist Lynn Margulis, posited their view that Earth exists essentially as a single organism, and that atmosphere and biosphere — every aspect of life support for the planet — must be safeguarded to maintain conditions favorable to life.
Celebrating that precious interrelationship is the theme of Missa Gaia, and Paul Winter and his Paul Winter Consort, plus gospel soloist Theresa Thomason, will join the 110-voice Eugene Concert Choir to present the work in Eugene on Feb. 19.
Since its inception, Missa Gaia has been performed each year on the first Sunday in October at St. John the Divined, during the Feast of St. Francis, known in the Roman Catholic Church as the patron saint of animals and the environment.
The sections of Missa Gaia include Agnus Dei, The Beatitudes, The Blue Green Hills of Earth, Canticle of Brother Sun, Kyrie, Let Us Depart In Peace, and Sanctus and Benedictus.
Eugene Concert Choir presents Missa Gaia
When: 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023
Where: Silva Concert Hall, Hult Center for the Performing Arts, One Eugene Center (7th and Willamette streets), Eugene
Tickets: $10 to $52, available at the Hult Center box office, 541-682-5000, or online at eugeneconcertchoir.org or hultcenter.org
