United States Marine Band & Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Nowlin
Biography United States Marine Band & Lieutenant Colonel Ryan Nowlin
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.
