Performer Details
Performer Bio Synopsis
Cobb Wind Symphony Bio
Season 28
Formed in September 1999, the Cobb Wind Symphony (CWS) is an all-adult community band composed of musicians from throughout the metropolitan Atlanta area. The ensemble was created to provide an outstanding musical outlet for adult musicians and to further the development and appreciation of band music.
CWS members share a lifelong love of music and benefit from challenging musical experiences, a strong spirit of camaraderie, and opportunities to serve the community through performances in schools, concert halls, and outdoor venues. The ensemble rehearses every other Sunday at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia.
The Cobb Wind Symphony has grown from its original 77 members to its current size of 116 musicians, representing a wide range of professions, including education, medicine, law, engineering, management, technology and music. Brought together by a common love of music, its members have developed a distinctive ensemble sound and an outstanding reputation throughout the Atlanta area and beyond. Interest in membership remains exceptionally strong, with a waiting list approaching 150 musicians.
The ensemble has performed at many of the nation’s leading band conferences and festivals, highlighted by four appearances at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago—in 2003, 2011, 2018, and 2026. CWS has also appeared numerous times at the Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference and the CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference.
The organization has maintained a close relationship with the Lassiter High School Band program since its founding. Its charter committee and Board of Directors have included numerous Lassiter Band alumni and former students of CWS Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor Dr. Alfred L. Watkins.
The Cobb Wind Symphony is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation supported by membership dues, individual and corporate contributions, sponsorships, and grants.
John Philip Sousa Foundation Sudler Silver Scroll
In 2009, the Cobb Wind Symphony received the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Silver Scroll, one of North America’s most prestigious honors for community concert bands. The award recognizes community bands that have demonstrated sustained standards of musical excellence and have played a significant role in the cultural and musical life of their communities.
Recipients are selected through an extensive review process that includes recordings of performances, documentation of the ensemble’s activities and accomplishments, and recommendations from distinguished wind-band conductors and community leaders.
The Cobb Wind Symphony is one of four Georgia ensembles to have received the Sudler Silver Scroll, joining the Tara Winds, Atlanta Wind Symphony, and Savannah River Winds.
Major Invitational Performances
The Midwest Clinic: 2003, 2011, 2018, 2026
Georgia Music Educators Association In-Service Conference: 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023
CBDNA/NBA Southern Division Conference: 2002, 2008, 2018
ASBDA/IET Festival: 2015
University of Georgia High School Band Festival: 2010
Guest Conductors
Guest conductors have included T.K. Adams, Harry Begian, Mark Camphouse, Shelby Chipman, Rick Clary, Eugene Corporon, Paula Crider, John Culvahouse, Ray Cramer, Arnald Gabriel, Robert Grechesky, David Holsinger, Jerry Junkin, Sue Samuels, Don Schofield, Andrea Strauss, Frank Ticheli, and Julian White.
Guest Soloists
Guest soloists have included Adam Frey, Antoine Gibson, Wycliffe Gordon, James Gourlay, Marci Gurnow, Brandon Jones, Chris Martin, Fred Mills, Otis Murphy, Timothy Northcut, Don Schofield, James Seda, Christina Smith, the United States Army Band Herald Trumpets, and Christopher Watkins.
Cobb Wind Symphony
Conductor's Bio
DR. ALFRED L. WATKINS
Conductor, Clinician, Lecturer, Author
Dr. Alfred L. Watkins is Co-Founder, Musical Director and Conductor of the Cobb Wind Symphony, an all-adult community band in Metro Atlanta. He is the retired Director of Bands at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia, where he served for 31 of his 37 years as a public-school music educator. He has served on the music faculties of the Interlochen Center of the Arts Summer Arts Summer Camp and Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. Watkins is a 1976 graduate of Florida A&M University, with additional study at Georgia State University. In July 2022, VanderCook College of Music conferred upon him the honorary Doctor of Music Education degree.
His bands have earned the John Philip Sousa Foundation’s Sudler Flag of Honor for concert band, Sudler Shield for marching band and Sudler Silver Scroll for community band, making Watkins one of the few American band directors to have held all three Sousa Foundation awards. Concert bands under his leadership have performed at 36 invitational concert band events, and he has conducted All-State High School Bands in 38 states.
Ensembles under Watkins’ direction have performed six times at the Midwest Clinic, six times at the Music for All National Festival and nine times at Georgia Music Educators Association conventions. The Lassiter Trojan Marching Band performed four times in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade and three times in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Lassiter was the 1998 and 2002 Bands of America Grand National Champion, won nine Bands of America Regional Championships and earned the Sweepstakes Award in 141 of 151 marching competitions entered. The Lassiter Winter Color Guard was named WGI World Champion in 1996 and 1997 and won nine WGI Regional titles. The Lassiter Percussion Ensemble performed twice at the Midwest Clinic and once at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) and six times at the GMEA Convention. In 2022, Watkins was selected by the Michael D. Sewell Memorial Foundation to represent America’s band directors aboard its float in the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade.
Watkins is a member of the American Bandmasters Association and the Florida A&M University Gallery of Distinguished Alumni and has been inducted into the Halls of Fame of Bands of America, Conn Selmer and the Minority Band Directors National Association. His honors include the Midwest Clinic Medal of Honor, the American School Band Directors Association’s Edwin Franko Goldman Award and Kappa Kappa Psi’s Distinguished Service to Music Award. He has received 38 Certificates of Excellence from the National Band Association and serves on the advisory boards of the Conn Selmer Division of Education and the Midwest Clinic. In addition to conducting his own ensembles at The Midwest Clinic, Watkins has appeared there more than 20 times as a guest conductor, clinician, lecturer, panelist, and rehearsal-lab conductor, including seven appearances as a guest conductor.
Watkins is Co-Founder of the Minority Band Directors National Association, a national organization established to serve, promote, mentor and celebrate ethnic-minority band directors in the United States. Two doctoral dissertations, at Florida State University and Auburn University, have examined his life, career and work with the Lassiter Band. In 1988, Watkins pioneered the concept of the Symphonic Band Camp, a three-day intensive local event devoted to concert-band development that has since been implemented by scores of school band programs throughout the country.
The $1.5 million Alfred L. Watkins Band Building at Lassiter High School bears his name and he was the co-designer of the beautiful Lassiter Concert Hall. He and his wife of 43 years, Rita, live in Marietta, Georgia. They have two adult sons: Christopher, a trumpeter with The United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” in Washington, D.C., and Jonathan, a businessman in Atlanta. They have two grandchildren.
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