Wind Takes Flight began with a simple yet powerful idea: to reimagine the music of Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th-century mystic and composer, through the lens of modern electronic soundscapes. The title, drawn from one of Hildegard’s sacred poems featured on the album, also reflects her love of birds and the natural world. These have been enduring sources of inspiration for us throughout this creative journey.
As collaborators, we – Julia Sinclair, an English soprano soloist, and Marijn Cinjee, a Dutch electronic musician – were drawn to the timeless spirituality and beauty of Hildegard’s work. The idea of bringing together our two musical worlds to create something new and transformative felt both exciting and inevitable. In April 2023, we debuted an experimental live improvisation inspired by Hildegard’s hymn O ignis Spiritus paracliti at Stone Nest in London, in an immersive listening experience using more than 40 loudspeakers driven by the 4DSOUND spatial sound system. The audience’s response to the soaring vocal lines and immersive electronic textures confirmed that we were onto something special, and that performance became the foundation for Wind Takes Flight, the album’s title track.
Over the next eighteen months, we poured ourselves into this project, crafting what would become Wind Takes Flight. The album is a conversation across time – beginning with Hildegard’s chants and evolving into a love letter to her music, merging her sacred compositions with contemporary sound design while remaining true to the deep spirituality and reverence of her music. Premièring the album live in spatial sound at Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was an unforgettable experience, captured in the drama and beauty of Ekstasis, a piece created for that performance.
Now, we’re thrilled to share Wind Takes Flight with you. This album is more than music; it’s a bridge between past and present, an invitation to step into a space where ancient echoes meet modern innovation, and where the spirit of Hildegard of Bingen – artist, composer, and pioneer – soars anew.
