Co-principal oboe Master Gunnery Sergeant Leslye Barrett of Liberty, Mo., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in February 1997. She was appointed section leader in December 2004.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Barrett began her musical training at age 3 and graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Mich., in 1990. In 1994 she earned a bachelor of arts degree in performance from Southern Methodist University in Dallas and in 1996 a master of music degree in performance from Arizona State University in Tempe. 

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” she was a member of the Quintessence Chamber Ensemble in Phoenix, and performed with the Phoenix Symphony, the Arizona Opera in Phoenix, and the Dallas Wind Symphony.

Master Gunnery Sgt. Barrett performs with the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra at the White House, in the Washington, D.C., area, and across the country during the band’s annual concert tour. Her solos with “The President’s Own” include Johann Wilhelm Hertel’s Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet and Oboe, Ottorino Respighi’s Concerto a cinque, John Corigliano’s Oboe Concerto, and the Concerto Grosso for Woodwind Quartet and Wind Orchestra by Heitor Villa-Lobos. She frequently leads clinics while on tour with the band and performed at the International Double Reed Society Convention in 2006, 2009, and 2011. In 2009, she was also a featured guest artist on Double Reed Day at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green.