The Saratoga Community Band was founded in 1989 with 35 members, and today numbers over 80 musicians ranging in age from 16 to 70+. The band is sponsored by the Los Gatos-Saratoga Recreation Department, and is open to all interested musicians in the Bay area. The band rehearses weekly; small ensembles from the band also perform for local events.
Subsequently, Mr. Northrup became Music Director of the Vienna International Music Festival in Austria, and also the Music Director at West Valley College. Each of these posts he held for 15 years, most of those years overlapping the two responsibilities. He has both Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.