The Labyrinth Ascending,
The Mythic Journey of the Soul

In 1995 composer John Burke embarked on a quest. Sensing a new role for contemporary concert music in the 21st century, he traveled extensively abroad to research the effects of sound and music on consciousness with such luminaries as Don Campbell, author of The
Mozart Effect, Jean Houston, a leading pioneer of the human potential movement, and at the Monroe Institute in Virginia.

The first musical work to emerge from this exploration was the hour-long Remember Your Power, a virtual tour of the archetype of transformation that Joseph Campbell called the Hero’s Journey, which was premiered at the Roundhouse Community Centre in Vancouver in 2000.

Jean Houston introduced him to walking the labyrinth (in particular the medieval design derived from Chartres Cathedral in France), and encouraged him to compose music to accompany this contemporary and growing form of contemplative practice.

After having produced major labyrinth events at the Sacred World Music Festival in Vancouver in 2003 and 2004, a remarkable series of coincidences lead him to the small community of Sechelt, BC, and the special synergy of the musical and spiritual communities he found there.

John Burke’s latest work in his labyrinth series, The Labyrinth Ascending: The Mythic Journey Of The Soul, was given its world premiere at St. Hilda’s By The Sea Anglican Church in Sechelt in celebration of 70 years of service in ministry on the Sunshine Coast on Saturday, September 23, 2006.

Commissioned through the BC Arts Council, this three-part enactment of the spiritual journey began at 7pm with a candlelight procession from the totem poles on the Sechelt Band lands to St. Hilda’s. There the musicians of Gemini (Val and Julie Rutter, piano, flutes and recorders) joined Wendy Humphreys (soprano, celtic harp) and Cristian Markos (cello) in facilitating a virtual labyrinth pilgrimage in music. The final strains of the concert ushered the participants to St. Hilda’s outdoor labyrinth and the concluding phase of the journey, a celebratory walk by candlelight.