(Photo Courtesy of CBS) “Equity Arc student musicians perform with veterans.”

Conor Moyer

Connector Editor

Last year, 30 teenage musicians from across the country received the honor of a lifetime when the United States Marine Band selected them to perform alongside it in Washington, D.C. The Marine Band, known as “The President’s Own,” has performed at White House events since 1798, from state dinners to inaugurations.

But the concert never happened.

In February, the event was canceled following an executive order issued by President Trump that restricted federal diversity programs. As the students were selected through Equity Arc, a nonprofit that connects student musicians of color with mentors and opportunities, the concert was axed.

Rishab Jain, an 18-year-old high school senior from New Jersey and one of the students selected, said he was incredibly frustrated by the decision. “If we’re suppressing music, we’re suppressing emotions, we’re suppressing expression, we’re suppressing vulnerability, we’re suppressing the very essence of what makes us human,” he told 60 Minutes. “We are devaluing our own humanity.”

The Marine Band’s commanding officer informed Equity Arc that they would be unable to reschedule the concert “as long as the executive order is in place.” For Stanford Thompson, Equity Arc’s founder, the cancellation was devastating. “My first thought was helplessness in a way, and heartbreak,” he said.

But the story didn’t end there.

This past Sunday, at the Music Center at Strathmore outside Washington, D.C, 22 of the original students performed the program they had prepared months before. While active-duty Marines could no longer perform with them, Equity Arc organized a volunteer orchestra of retired military band musicians, veterans from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, West Point, the Naval Academy, and the Marines.

John Abbracciamento, a retired Marine Band trumpeter, was one of the first to sign on. “I just felt like, well, there’s usually two responses to something. You can complain about it, or you could do something about it. I chose the latter within seconds,” he said, “and it was the easiest decision ever.” Fellow Marine Band alum Jennifer Marotta flew into D.C. from Los Angeles at her own expense. “When I got that email, I looked at my schedule and I said, “I can move all of those things.” I booked a flight. It was literally one week ago, and I’m here,” she said.

The students and veterans performed a program that included “Nobles of the Mystic Shrine” by John Philip Sousa, who once led the Marine Band and composed the official National March of the United States, “Stars and Stripes Forever.” 

Asked how he thought the current members of the Marine Band felt about the cancellation, Abbracciamento replied, “I know them like the back of my hand. So, I don’t think it’s too much for me to go out on a limb to say how disappointed they were.” He added, “I challenge anyone, literally anyone, to come to me and say that having this concert does damage to the United States. It doesn’t: it brings out the best of us.”