America’s oldest professional musical organization, the Marine Band, has performed for every U.S. president since John Adams. This concert features a variety of patriotic favorites, concert band classics, and orchestral transcriptions.
Note: Admission is free, but tickets are required. Limit four tickets per order. Tickets and ordering information available starting Oct. 2.
Biographies
MARINE BAND
Established by an Act of Congress in 1798, the United States Marine Band is America’s oldest continuously active professional musical organization. Its mission is unique—to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps.
President John Adams invited the Marine Band to make its White House debut on New Year’s Day, 1801, in the then-unfinished Executive Mansion. In March of that year, the band performed for Thomas Jefferson’s inauguration and it is believed that it has performed for every presidential inaugural since. In Jefferson, the band found its most visionary advocate. An accomplished musician himself, Jefferson recognized the unique relationship between the band and the Chief Executive and he is credited with giving the Marine Band its title, “The President’s Own.”
Whether performing for State Dinners or South Lawn arrivals, events of national significance, or receptions, Marine Band musicians appear at the White House an average of 200 times each year. These performances range from small ensembles such as a solo pianist, jazz combo or brass quintet to a country band, dance band or full concert band. The diversity of music often presented at the Executive Mansion makes versatility an important requirement for Marine Band members. Musicians are selected at auditions much like those of major symphony orchestras, and they enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps for permanent duty with the Marine Band. Most of today’s members are graduates of the nation’s finest music schools, and more than 60 percent hold advanced degrees in music.
In addition to its White House mission, “The President’s Own” performs an annual season showcase series of indoor concerts and a popular outdoor summer concert series on the National Mall. Musicians from the band are frequently highlighted in solo performances and participate in more intimate chamber ensemble recitals that feature a wide range of smaller instrumental groups. Marine Band musicians also perform in many different types of ceremonies and events throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area including the Presidential Inauguration, Full Honors funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, Honor Flight ceremonies for veterans at the National World War II Memorial, Friday Evening Parades at Marine Barracks, Washington, D.C., and educational programs in schools throughout the National Capital Region.
Each fall, the Marine Band travels throughout a portion of the continental United States during its concert tour, a tradition initiated in 1891 by “The March King” John Philip Sousa, who was the band’s legendary 17th Director. As Director from 1880–92, Sousa brought “The President’s Own” to an unprecedented level of excellence and shaped the band into a world-famous musical organization. Since Sousa’s time, the band’s musical reach has extended beyond America’s borders on several occasions with performances in England, Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Singapore, and the former Soviet Union. During Sousa’s tenure, the Marine Band was one of the first musical ensembles to make sound recordings. By 1892, more than 200 different titles were available for sale, placing Sousa’s marches among the first and most popular pieces ever recorded.
While the Marine Band is firmly dedicated to preserving the unique musical traditions established over its long history, it is equally committed to serving as a leading ensemble in the development of new repertoire for winds. In 2000, “The President’s Own” commissioned David Rakowski’s Ten of a Kind, a piece honored as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in music in 2002. In 2007, the band commissioned “Scamp” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Melinda Wagner, and the Marine Band premièred Scott Lindroth’s Passage at the 2010 Midwest Clinic in Chicago. In 2011, the band commissioned and premièred Flourishes and Meditations on a Renaissance Theme by Michael Gandolfi at the American Bandmasters Association’s annual convention in Norfolk, Va. Most recently, music written for the Marine Band has included Gerard Schwarz’ Above and Beyond, Jacob Bancks’ The Information Age and Laurence Bitensky to write Fearsome Critters, the latter of which was premièred at the Texas Bandmasters Association Convention in San Antonio in July 2012.
On July 11, 1998, the Marine Band celebrated its 200th anniversary with a command performance at the White House and a gala concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington attended by President and Mrs. Clinton. Also during its bicentennial year, the Marine Band was the only ensemble inducted into the inaugural class of the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in Cincinnati.
Given its status among American musical organizations, “The President’s Own” continues to attract prominent guest conductors from major orchestras around the globe, including Osmo Vänskä, Leonard Slatkin, José Serebrier and Gerard Schwarz. On July 12, 2003, the Marine Band returned to the Kennedy Center to celebrate its 205th anniversary in a concert featuring guest conductor John Williams, renowned composer of American film and concert works and laureate conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Williams returned to the podium in 2008 to conduct the final concert of the Living History concert series celebrating the Marine Band’s 210th anniversary. In honor of the Marine Band’s 215th birthday, John Williams composed and dedicated an original work to the Marine Band aptly titled “For ‘The President’s Own.’”
The Marine Band’s integral role in the national culture and in the government’s official life has affirmed the importance of the arts as a bridge between people. Since 1798, the Marine Band’s mission has been to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. As the only musical organization with that mission, the Marine Band looks to the future, viewing its history and tradition as the foundation upon which to build its third century of bringing music to the White House and to the American people.
Director Lt. Col. Ryan Nowlin joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in August 2010 as staff arranger. He was appointed Assistant Director and commissioned a first lieutenant in July 2014, was promoted to the rank of captain in July 2016, was appointed Executive Officer and Associate Director in May 2018, and earned the rank of Major in January 2020. He was promoted to his current rank in December 2023. On Dec. 20, 2023, during a Change of Command Ceremony officiated by Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps General Christopher J. Mahoney, Lt. Col. Nowlin became the 29th Director of "The President's Own" United States Marine Band.
With “The President’s Own,” Lt. Col. Nowlin has arranged and composed a variety of music for the Marine Band, Marine Chamber Orchestra, and small ensembles. His arrangements are frequently included in high-profile national events to include a 2013 collaboration with Beyoncé (“The Star-Spangled Banner”) and Kelly Clarkson (“America”) for the second inauguration of President Barack Obama as well as an arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner” for Jordin Sparks in honor of the anthem’s 200th anniversary at Fort McHenry (2014.) His setting of “Amazing Grace” is regularly included as part of the annual Marine Corps Worship Service held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. In 2013, Lt. Col. Nowlin’s concert march “The Montford Point Marines” honoring the first African Americans to serve in the United States Marine Corps was premiered for President and Mrs. Obama at the Friday Evening Parade at Marine Barracks Washington. In 2018, he composed the march “Century of Service” in honor of 100 years of women’s service in the Corps.
Lt. Col. Nowlin’s music has been heard in performance at countless White House events including receptions, state dinners, and Independence Day celebrations on the South Lawn. His wind band transcriptions have been recorded on five Marine Band albums to include “From the Keyboard” (Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor); “Picture Studies” (David Conte’s A Copland Portrait); “Arioso” (Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in C minor); “A Leonard Bernstein Tribute” (Leonard Bernstein’s Scenes from A White House Cantata); and “Monuments” (Jennifer Higdon’s blue cathedral.)
Lt. Col. Nowlin has enjoyed conducting the Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra in public performances during their winter/spring concert series and at summer concerts on the National Mall, as well as at ceremonies and national events at the U.S. Capitol, Washington National Cathedral, and at the White House. Additionally, he has conducted the band at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Va., at The Midwest Clinic in Chicago, at the 2022 WASBE International Conference in Prague, on the Marine Band’s national concert tours, and on the band’s international tours to Japan (2019) and Europe (2022).
Lt. Col. Nowlin has served as a producer for nineteen Marine Band albums to include each annual release since 2014, The Complete Marches of John Philip Sousa recording project since its inception, and the album “John Williams and ‘The President’s Own’”. Additionally, he served as a producer for the Emmy award-winning program “New England Triptych” in partnership with the All-Star Orchestra.
Lt. Col. Nowlin is also the unit’s Education Officer. A music educator and high school band director before joining “The President’s Own,” Lt. Col. Nowlin is a dedicated advocate for music education. He currently manages Marine Band educational outreach initiatives such as Music in the Schools, Music in the High Schools, Tour Educational Outreach, and the Concerto Competition for High School Musicians, and has been involved in the Marine Band’s Young People’s Concerts since 2011.
Lt. Col. Nowlin is a 1996 graduate of North Royalton High School in Ohio. He earned both a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and his Master of Music in Music Education and Conducting in 2004 from Bowling Green State University in Ohio, where he studied horn with Herbert Spencer, Jr. and conducting with Bruce Moss and Emily Freeman Brown. He has also studied composition with prolific composer Anne McGinty and has participated in workshops and master classes with several renowned conductors and educators including H. Robert Reynolds, Mallory Thompson, Harry Begian, and Frederick Fennell.
In addition to his duties with the United States Marine Band, Lt. Col. Nowlin frequently appears as a guest conductor with high school honor and all-state bands, community and municipal bands, and with university ensembles across the country. His published music and methods are used in lessons and performances around the globe, and he can frequently be found providing clinics and master classes to teachers and students around the country.