Six exceptional high school musicians from across America will convene in Truman Crawford Hall at Marine Barracks Washington, DC, at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15, to compete in the final round of “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band’s annual Concerto Competition. The winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship courtesy of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and perform their solo with the Marine Band on Feb. 23. Second and third place winners will receive $1,000 and $500 scholarships, respectively.

Learn more about the Concerto Competition for High School Musicians

Finalists for this year’s competition were chosen from a competitive pool of nearly 100 applications.

The chosen students will perform prepared concertos before a panel of judges consisting of Marine Band Director Lt. Col. Ryan J. Nowlin, Associate Director Capt. Darren Y. Lin, Assistant Director 1st Lt. Jose Toranzo and guest adjudicator Dr. William Lake, Jr., Director of Concert Bands at the Reva and Sid Dewberry Family School of Music at George Mason University.

This free performance is open to the public, no tickets are required.
The performances will take place at Marine Barracks Washington at 8th and I Streets SE, Washington, DC. Free parking is available in the gated lot under the I-695 overpass. Patrons should enter Marine Barracks Washington through the main gate at the intersection of 8th and I Streets SE. Please allow extra time for ID checks at the gate.

Program

Meet this year’s finalists:

Madeline Cagle is a senior at Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama. She is principal horn in the Alabama Symphony Youth Orchestra and was the winner of the ASYO Concerto Competition in 2025. Cagle attended Interlochen Arts Camp in 2023 and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute in 2024, where she shared the principal orchestral seat. She has been awarded the principal positions in the Alabama All State Band and Orchestra multiple times and was runner up at the Alabama All State Band Solo Festival in 2024. Cagle was recently chosen as a finalist on NPR’s From the Top, and her horn quartet was chosen as a featured ensemble at the 2025 Alabama Music Educators Conference. She will be performing movements II and III from Richard Strauss’s Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, Opus 11.

Ellie Choi is a sophomore at Fort Lee High School in New Jersey and the Juilliard Pre-College in New York. She has played the flute for three years. In 2024, Choi was selected as the Young Musicians Contest Winner by the New York Flute Club. She was the winner of the 2024 Luzerne Music Center Concerto Competition and a finalist in the 2024 Juilliard Pre-College Concerto Competition. She made her debut at Carnegie Hall in 2022 and was the principal flutist for the Bergen County and Region Bands in 2022 and 2023. In the final round of the Marine Band’s Concerto Competition, Ellie will perform Cecile Chaminade’s Concertino, Opus 107.

Jasper Kugler is a senior at Crescenta Valley High School in California and studies at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts. Since 2024, he has been Acting Principal Tuba of the Pacific Palisades Symphony. He has played under esteemed conductors including Maxim Eshkenazy, Michelle Rakers, and Gustavo Dudamel in various honor ensembles including the Colburn Youth Orchestra, YOLA National Festival, Mahler at Pacific, All-State (CASMEC), All-Southern (SCSBOA) and marched in the 2022 and 2023 Tournament of Roses Parade with the Pasadena City College Honor Band. Kugler founded the Crescenta Valley Brass Quintet, a group of volunteer student musicians playing everything from Bach to Dixieland Jazz at free concerts around Los Angeles, including senior centers, churches and elementary schools. He will be performing the first two movements of Edward Gregson’s Tuba Concerto.

Aaron Wu is a junior at Adlai E. Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois, and has played saxophone for seven years. In 2025, he was a member of the Honor Band of America at the Music for All National Festival. In 2024, Wu was second-place winner of the American Protégé International Woodwinds and Brass Competition, earning a performance at Carnegie Hall. He has served as Principal Soprano Saxophone in the ILMEA All-State Honors Band and Principal Alto Saxophone in the ILMEA District 7 Senior Band. Also in 2024, he performed as a member of the John Philip Sousa National High School Honor Band. He is currently Lead Alto Saxophone in the Midwest Young Artist Conservatory’s top Concert Jazz Band. Aaron will perform Alexander Glazunov’s Alto Saxophone Concerto in E-flat, Opus 109 in the final round of the Marine Band Concerto Competition.

Daniel Xu is a sophomore at Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School University Scholars Program in West Chester, PA and has played clarinet for seven years. He is the 2025 National YoungArts Award Winner with Distinction in Classical Music Clarinet, a finalist of the International Clarinet Association (ICA) High School Solo Competition in 2023 and the U.S. Navy Band Young Artist Solo Competition in 2024. Xu is the winner of the 2022 and 2023 MTNA Pennsylvania Woodwind Competitions. In 2024, Daniel was selected as one of the three clarinetists to participate and perform with the National Youth Orchestra (NYO2) at Carnegie Hall and the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. In the final round of the Marine Band Concerto Competition, Daniel will perform Carl Maria von Weber’s Concertino for Clarinet, Op. 26.

Daniel Yeum is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Virginia, and has played oboe for six years. He has won numerous competitions and awards, including the Northern Virginia Music Teachers Association Woodwind Achievement Awards and the Asian American Music Society International Competition. Daniel is a 2025 YoungArts Award Winner and the 2023 Virginia Winner for the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Senior Woodwind Competition. He has also served as a rotating principal of the American Youth Philharmonic for five years and was first chair in the All-Virginia Symphonic Band as a freshman. Daniel will perform Allegro aperto from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Oboe Concerto in C, K. 314.