About

SSU Orchestra — SSU Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Alexander Kahn, Director, 2025

Sonoma State University is part of the California State University, the nation’s largest and most affordable public four-year university system. Our campus sits in the heart of Sonoma County’s wine country, nestled between gently sloping hills and rocky mountain peaks, between bustling towns and serene countryside.

The SSU Department of Music is housed within the Green Music Center, a hub of musical, artistic and cultural activity. Embracing its mission of providing access to diverse experiences that educate, connect, and inspire, the Green Music Center is home to two magnificent performing venues, Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall, a spectacular concert hall modeled after Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, and acoustically designed to replicate the Vienna’s Musikverein, and Schroeder Hall, an intimate 240-seat cathedral-like recital hall designed specifically to accentuate instruments, organ, and voice.

At Sonoma State University, developing artists cultivate their individuality in an environment that emphasizes personalized instruction. Academic music classes are typically small, enabling students to engage with faculty members in an intimate setting. Studio faculty, many of whom are professional artists with prominent ensembles throughout the Bay Area and beyond, are approachable, accessible, and committed to student success.

History

Band playing on stage — Members of the Sonoma State Wind Ensemble play for GMC groundbreaking in 2005. Brian Wilson, conductor.

Sonoma State College was established by the California State Legislature in 1960 to be part of the California State College system, with significant involvement of the faculty from San Francisco State University. Sonoma opened for the first time in 1961, with an initial enrollment of 250 students. With the completion of Stevenson Hall and Darwin Hall, the college moved to its permanent campus in 1966 where the first graduating class received their degrees. In 1978, Sonoma State College became Sonoma State University when the school officially gained university status. The Green Music Center opened in 2010, followed by the opening of Joan and Sanford I. Weill Hall in 2012 and Schroeder Hall in 2014.

Speaker standing at podium — Groundbreaking ceremony for the Green Music Center in 2005. From left, Jeff Langley, Rebecca Green Birdsall, Donald Green, William R. Williams, Marne Olson, Ruben Armiñana, Floyd Ross.