Sedgwick musician incorporates whale songs into music

By Steele Hays

Paul Sullivan of Sedgwick, right, plays a song matched to the sounds of whales with longtime collaborator Eugene Friesen. Video by Steele Hays.

Pianist Paul Sullivan of Sedgwick reunited with one of his long-time musical collaborators November 17 before an enthusiastic crowd at Bowdoin College’s Studzinski Recital Hall.

Sullivan and cellist Eugene Friesen were both members of the Grammy-winning Paul Winter Consort for many years, but Sullivan left in 1994 to perform on his own. Friesen is still active in the group. Sullivan is one of the most well-known and popular musicians based on the Blue Hill Peninsula and often hosts performances at his own mini-concert hall next to his home, known as The Palazzo. 

“This is a great celebration for us,” Sullivan told the appreciative crowd at Bowdoin. 

“Paul is one of my dearest friends and we don’t get to play together very often, not often enough,” Friesen added. 

Sullivan and Friesen led the audience on a virtual tour of “world music,” performing pieces combining elements from African, Asian, and South American cultures with jazz, as well as playing a few of each of their signature pieces such as Sullivan’s “The Rising Moon” and Friesen’s “Shadowplay.” 

Two arrangements incorporated recorded sounds from nature and blended them with the live sounds of piano and cello: the ethereal sounds of the humpback whale in “Humpback Harmony” and the haunting calls of the Japanese bush warbler in “Voice of the Wood.” 

Sullivan’s next concert performance will be closer to home, with a concert on Dec. 11 at the University of Maine’s Minsky Hall. 

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