Alum Update from Samantha Angelo

Staff Sergeant Samantha Angelo, United States Marine Band

Even if you’ve been following From the Top for a short time, you probably can tell how proud we are of our alumni. It’s always fun to hear from one of our young-performers-turned-professional, so we were excited to receive an update from clarinetist Samantha Angelo last week. Samantha appeared on Show 022 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida over a decade ago, where she played the first movement from Clarinet Sonatina, Op. 29 by Malcolm Arnold. Since then she’s accomplished quite a lot!

Samantha completed her music performance degree from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY and in 2006 she auditioned for and won a seat (beating out over 40 professional classical musicians) with “The President’s Own” orchestra (the United States Marine Band). Samantha has lived in Washington, DC since, and just received her master’s degree in performance from the University of Maryland.  She’s been featured as a soloist at the White House several times!

Additionally, Samantha was the winner of the International Clarinet Association Competition in Portugal in 2009. These days she’s not only a member of “The President’s Own,” she’s also the principal clarinetist with the Alexandria Symphony and the Washington, DC opera company at the Kennedy Center.