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 provides world- class performances of the wind ensemble masterworks for the sophisticated music listeners in Northeast Ohio and regularly shares concerts with the best ensembles from the Cleveland area.

History

The ensemble, founded by Dr. Birch Browning at Cleveland State University, was conceived as a professional-quality ensemble for local players who were interested in performing masterworks for wind band, pieces that are not performable by community ensembles. The goal was to raise awareness of the wind band as an artistic vehicle by providing world-class live performances. With that in mind, the group usually shares the concert stage with another local ensemble.

The ensemble is now recognized internationally. The Winds were the recipients of the 2015 American Prize in Band/Wind Ensemble Performance—Community and School Division. During the pandemic, a chamber ensemble from the Cleveland Winds performed the Mozart's masterwork, Gran Partita, at the Maltz Center for the Performing Arts. Most recently, the Winds performed the US premiere of Luis Alarcon's Concerto for Cello, Winds, Piano, and Percussion under the direction of Timothy Reynish, perhaps the world's best know wind conductor.