Click the Auditions tab to learn about the 2025-2026 school year! ***
Click the Auditions tab to learn about the 2025-2026 school year! ***
The Barbara & Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony unites a diverse group of individuals who share a commitment to collaboration and excellent music-making.
The Wind Symphony is open by audition to all members of the Cornell campus community, and most of our members have majors other than music. We create a musically and intellectually stimulating experience for our members and audiences. Through our community-engaged performance tours, we use music to foster cultural competency and global citizenship. We set the bar high and have fun reaching it.
Performance
The Wind Symphony presents four annual on-campus concerts in Cornell’s Bailey Hall and tours whenever possible.
Community Engagement
We explore music-making as a vehicle for cross-cultural exchange, collaboration, and service, and support Cornell's core values of public engagement and global awareness.
The Wind Symphony is committed to enriching the repertoire with new compositions, arrangements, and transcriptions. In November 2021, the ensemble presented three new arrangements of music composed by A.D. White Professor-At-Large Wynton Marsalis.
Commissions & Premieres
The Wind Symphony routinely collaborates with artists from a variety of musical disciplines. We have been privileged to work with performers including Christopher Coletti, Wynton Marsalis, and Joshua Redman; composers including Kathryn Likhuta, David Maslanka, and Patrick Williams; and many others.
Collaborations
Joshua Redman
“I wish I could show people the memories I've made in this ensemble... Give them the emotions our music has made me feel; depict the lessons I've learned and the sense of community I’ve developed. If I had to give a quote though, it would be:
“This ensemble is my favorite thing I did at Cornell.”
— James Parker, bassoonist (Computer Science, ‘21)
CU Winds
The student organization CU Winds supports the Cornell University Wind Symphony and furthers Cornell’s long tradition of excellence in wind band performance.
Barbara & Richard Silver
Richard Silver (’50, MD ‘53) and his wife Barbara have created the Barbara and Richard T. Silver ’50, MD ’53 Professorship in the Department of Music and are supporting the Barbara and Richard T. Silver ’50, MD ’53 Wind Symphony.
Chamber Music
Subsets of the Wind Symphony often participate in coached chamber ensembles. High-functioning rehearsals emphasize leadership, collaborative methods, familiarization with the repertory, and developing an informed interpretation.