Darren Lin

Darren Lin is a conductor, percussionist, and educator based in Arlington, VA. He brings passionate and nuanced performances to the stage as well as a fierce commitment to diversifying the standard repertoire and making the arts more inclusive and accessible for all. He has been recognized for his inventive programming, performing a wide range of works by composers from Steve Reich and Augusta Read Thomas to Joseph Bologne and John Philip Sousa.

As a percussionist, Darren has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, New World Symphony, and New Haven Symphony. He was a fellow of the 2017 Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan and was invited to perform as an extra at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts in 2018. He has performed under the batons of Valery Gergiev, Michael Tilson Thomas, Andris Nelsons, Thomas Wilkins, JoAnn Falletta, and Jun Märkl. Equally dedicated to championing contemporary music, he was the founder and Artistic Director of new music ensemble [sunflower], commissioning works from innovative composers like Molly Joyce, Randy Woolf, and Joseph Pereira. He has worked closely with Pulitzer Prize winning composers Steve Reich and John Luther Adams and has performed and recorded with the Borromeo String Quartet as well as the NakedEye Ensemble, "an eclectic eight-member electro-acoustic ensemble with classical, rock, and jazz DNA,” appearing on their 2022 album ‘A Series of Indecipherable Glyphs’ which was recommended by the New York Times.

A passionate advocate for music education, Darren has taught at the undergraduate, high school, middle school, and elementary levels. His students consistently place with high honors in Solo and Ensemble competitions and are frequent selections for All State Bands and Orchestras. Several of his students have gone on to further studies in percussion at esteemed programs like the Crane School of Music, Eastern Michigan University, and the University of Michigan. As a guest artist, he has given clinics at high schools and middle schools in over 30 different states and has led masterclasses at Penn State, SUNY Buffalo State, Northern Arizona University, and the University of Washington. He has also taught music in public schools, holding an interim post as Director of Bands at the Western Middle School in Parma, MI in 2015. In 2018, he was the Adjunct Professor of Percussion at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA.

In 2019, Darren joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band as a percussionist before being appointed as Assistant Director in 2021. Currently serving as Associate Director, he regularly conducts the Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra in the Washington D.C. area, at the White House, and across the United States. He also is active as a guest conductor and clinician for bands and orchestras across the nation. 

Darren Lin is a proud alumnus of the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and holds additional degrees and study from the Eastman School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His primary conducting mentors are Christopher James Lees, Michael Haithcock, Rodney Dorsey, and Ryan Nowlin, and he has studied percussion with Will Hudgins, Michael Burritt, Joseph Gramley, Jonathan Ovalle, and James Ross.

Any activity on this website is in a civilian capacity and neither "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, the U.S. Marine Corps, nor any other component of the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government have endorsed this material.