About the Nonprofit
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Solano Winds is Solano County's premier community concert band, based in the city of Fairfield, California. Our mission is to provide the community with high quality music through our performances, and to make music accessible to others through our various community and school outreach programs.
Our founder and first Music Director was Bob Briggs, who retired as Director of Bands from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995. It was only a matter of months before Solano County had its own community band based in Fairfield. Briggs was the Music Director for Solano Winds for thirteen years until his death in 2008 at age eighty-one. It was his wish to hand the baton to our current Music Director, Bill Doherty.
Solano Winds draws band members from Solano County and neighboring counties, attracting educators, retired and active military personnel, local high school students, and other amateur musicians who enjoy performing high quality symphonic band music. In addition to playing music, Solano Winds offers scholarships to local high school students who will pursue music-related higher education.
Solano Winds generally performs four concerts each year, usually at the Downtown Theater in Fairfield. We also provide preview concerts to the retirement community at Paradise Valley Estates in Fairfield. In addition to our full concert band, we have several small ensembles that perform in a variety of venues in the community, including jazz ensemble, brass and woodwind quintets, saxophone ensemble, and flute choir.
