About the Cleveland Winds

The Cleveland Winds is a professional-quality wind ensemble based at Cleveland State University. The ensemble roster includes many of the best musicians in the Cleveland area, including professional performers, music educators, and exceptional amateur musicians. The Cleveland Winds is dedicated to excellence in wind band performance and repertoire.

The Cleveland Winds is the winner for the American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—Community and School Division and performed at Severance Hall at the Northeast Ohio Band Invitational, sponsored by the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony, at Severance Hall in January 2018.

Music Director

Dr. Birch Browning is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Cleveland State University, and Music Director of the Cleveland Winds, a professional wind band based at CSU. The Cleveland Winds is the winner of The American Prize in the Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—community & school division. He taught high school band and orchestra in Florida prior to earning a Ph.D. in Music Education at Florida State University. A member of the faculty at CSU since 2002, he previously taught music education courses at Stetson University and FSU.

Dr. Browning serves as Associate Editor of OMEA’s research journal, Contributions to Music Education, and is a member of the College Band Director’s National Association Research Committee. He has presented his research findings at numerous state and national conferences, and recently presented his research on critical thinking by ensemble performers at the International Society for Music Education International Conference in Glagow, Scotland and presented additional findings at the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago in December 2017. His first book, Becoming a Musician-Educator: An Orientation to Musical Pedagogy, was published by Oxford University Press in March 2017.

Additional information on Dr. Browning can be found on his website.

More information on the Cleveland Winds, including our upcoming concerts, can be found on our Facebook page.

You can hear recordings of the Cleveland Winds on Soundcloud.