Jazz at Lincoln Center announced the three top-placing high school jazz bands in the world and more than 110 individual and section awards during the prestigious 31st Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival final concert and awards ceremony on May 2 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall.

2026 Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival
Top Bands

1st PLACE
Osceola County School for the Arts
Kissimmee, Florida
Directed by Jason Anderson

 2nd PLACE
Orange County School of the Arts
Santa Ana, California
Directed by Dr. John Reynolds

 3rd PLACE
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
West Palm Beach, Florida
Directed by Christopher De León

Honorable Mention:
Agoura High School
Agoura Hills, California
Directed by Robert Hackett

Honorable Mention:
Young Lions Jazz Conservatory
San Diego, California
Directed by Gilbert Castellanos

Honorable Mention:
Susan E. Wagner High School
Staten Island, New York
Directed by Paul Corn

Kicking off on International Jazz Day, from April 30 – May 2 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, students participated in section-specific masterclasses, jam sessions with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra members, pre-performance rehearsals, a celebratory dinner, and more. The competition culminated in an evening concert featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra—which includes Essentially Ellington alumni—and an awards ceremony on Saturday, May 2, at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall, also known as the House of Swing, where each top-placing band performed.

Wynton Marsalis, Managing and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, presented awards to the top bands. Osceola County School for the Arts from Kissimmee, Florida took home the first place trophy and an award of $5,000. Orange County School of the Arts from Santa Ana, California earned second place honors and a prize of $2,500. Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts from West Palm Beach, Florida accepted third place with an award of $1,000. All monetary awards will go toward improving the jazz education programs of each respective high school.

Todd Stoll, Vice President of Education at Jazz at Lincoln Center; and Maegan Kelly, Senior Director of Student & Family Programs at Jazz at Lincoln Center, presented over 110 individual and section awards. These awards were in recognition of outstanding rhythm section, outstanding trumpet section, outstanding trombone soloist, outstanding piano soloist, and outstanding pep section. Below is the complete list of awardees.

“This year’s competition was the most competitive in Essentially Ellington history,” Marsalis said to the bands, highlighting the “excellence each band represents.” He continued, “Jack Rudin gave us the first money to start this festival, and his spirit is still with us. His faith came from a belief in young people, and it is our responsibility at Essentially Ellington to continue passing that on.” Additional founding support for Essentially Ellington was provided by Gail and Alfred Engleberg.

In addition to highlighting the best high school jazz bands in the world, the event also recognized Quinn Knox, a senior at William H. Hall High School in West Hartford, Connecticut, for winning the 14th Annual Dr. J. Douglas White Essentially Ellington Student Composition and Arranging Contest. Knox received a $1,000 cash prize and the winning composition, entitled “The Sepulcrum,” was recorded by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on April 29. The prize also included a trip to the 2026 Competition & Festival for a composition lesson with Grammy Award-winning artist Ted Nash.

“The students who performed not only tonight, but this entire weekend, represent the aspirations of thousands of young people who are playing jazz all over our nation and across the globe,” said Stoll. “We are so fortunate to have them in our orbit.”

Since its inception in 1987, Jazz at Lincoln Center has produced an extensive range of jazz educational and advocacy programs for all ages, including Essentially Ellington. This year’s finalists were selected from 119 schools that submitted recordings of select tunes from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s R. Theodore Ammon Archives and Music Library. The program continues to spread the message of Duke Ellington’s music, leadership, and collective orientation, providing high school ensembles with free transcriptions of original Duke Ellington recordings – accompanied by rehearsal guides, original recordings, professional instruction, and more – to thousands of schools and community bands in 58 countries. To date, more than 7,100 high school bands have benefitted from free charts and resources.

Assets, including photos and videos from the finalist announcement, can be found here. Time codes for each finalist are as follows. (Photo credit: Gilberto Tadday; video credit: Jazz at Lincoln Center).

• 00:00-03:00: Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
• 03:08-05:25: Orange County School for the Arts
• 05:25-09:23: Osceola County School for the Arts

 *Complete list of 2026 Essentially Ellington Awardees

HONORABLE MENTION RHYTHM SECTION
Byron Center High School 

OUTSTANDING RHYTHM SECTION
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Beloit Memorial High School
Mountlake Terrace High School
Orange County School of the Arts
Osceola County School for the Arts
Susan Wagner High School
Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage

OUTSTANDING LATIN PERCUSSION
Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage

OUTSTANDING REED SECTION
Agoura High School
Susan Wagner High School 

HONORABLE MENTION SAXOPHONE SECTION
Shorewood High School

OUTSTANDING SAXOPHONE SECTION
Alexander Hamilton High School
Byron Center High School
Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble
William H. Hall High School

OUTSTANDING CLARINET SECTION
McKinney North High School

HONORABLE MENTION TROMBONE SECTION
Beloit Memorial High School
Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE SECTION
Jazz Houston

HONORABLE MENTION TRUMPET SECTION
Alexander Hamilton High School
Carroll Senior High School
Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage 

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET SECTION
Beloit Memorial High School
Jazz Houston
Orange County School of the Arts
Osceola County School for the Arts

OUTSTANDING BRASS SECTION
Agoura High School
Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
McKinney North High School

OUTSTANDING PEP SECTION
Carroll Senior High School

 HONORABLE MENTION PIANO
Chris Wilson (Agoura High School)
Caden Forrest (Bothell High School)
Julia Wickless (William H. Hall High School)

OUTSTANDING PIANO
Samuel Caiola (Beloit Memorial High School)
Sophie Ionitsa (Mountlake Terrace High School)
Emmet Althoen (Orange County School of the Arts) 

HONORABLE MENTION GUITAR
Gavin Siao (Esperanza High School)

OUTSTANDING GUITAR
David Eduardo Obregon (Osceola County School for the Arts) 

OUTSTANDING RHYTHM GUITAR
Mila Miropolskaya (Shorewood High School) 

OUTSTANDING DOUBLER (GUITAR & BANJO)
Oliver Shiwota (Orange County School of the Arts)

HONORABLE MENTION BASS
Joshua Hayden (Carroll Senior High School)

OUTSTANDING BASS
Noe Ramos Chaio (Jazz Houston)
Marcus Torzillo (Shorewood High School)
Riley Greenfield (Susan Wagner High School)
Eli Beyer (Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble) 

HONORABLE MENTION DRUMS
Lilian Tao (Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble)

OUTSTANDING DRUMS
Teegan Weiss (Agoura High School)
Noah Steinman (Alexander Hamilton High School)
Batu Ak (Jazz Houston)
Sophia Jo (McKinney North High School)
Luca Manzo (Mountlake Terrace High School)
Diego Aviles-Martinez (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Zayne Cornelius (Shorewood High School)

OUTSTANDING AUXILIARY PERCUSSION
Parker DeWyse (Byron Center High School) 

OUTSTANDING CONGAS
Sonialynn Jackson (Osceola County School for the Arts)

HONORABLE MENTION CLARINET
Julia Fisk (Carroll Senior High School)
Wyatt Raney (Esperanza High School)

OUTSTANDING CLARINET
Daniel Flores (Alexander Hamilton High School)
Luis Fernandez Guzman (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Aundrus Farson (Tarpon Springs High School)

HONORABLE MENTION ALTO SAXOPHONE
Seth Langford (Bothell High School)
Sean Moorehouse (Tarpon Springs High School)

OUTSTANDING ALTO SAXOPHONE
Alejandro Martinez (Jazz Houston)
Quinn Knox (William H. Hall High School)
Kahlil Childs (Young Lions Jazz Conservatory)
Michael Shebar (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage)

HONORABLE MENTION TENOR SAXOPHONE
Alfredo Bautista (Beloit Memorial High School)
Sawyer Lohrmann (Bothell High School)
Ana Fernandez (Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage) 

OUTSTANDING TENOR SAXOPHONE
Hunter Borg (Agoura High School)
Daniel Goodwin (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)
Zachary Zadah (Esperanza High School)
Jameson Sweeney (Jazz Houston)
Matthew Cruz (Jazz Houston)
Idan Ronen (Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble)
Robert Jefferson (Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble)
Jordan Yeager (Young Lions Jazz Conservatory)

OUTSTANDING DOUBLER (ALTO & TENOR SAXOPHONE)
Michael Fradkin (Carroll Senior High School) 

OUTSTANDING DOUBLER (TENOR SAX & CLARINET)
Claire Dalan (Mountlake Terrace High School) 

HONORABLE MENTION BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Garett Ames (Agoura High School)
Jack Denning (Byron Center High School)

 OUTSTANDING BARITONE SAXOPHONE
Ruby Simon (Alexander Hamilton High School)
Nicollette Solis (Susan Wagner High School)

HONORABLE MENTION TROMBONE
Jareth Martinez-Garcia (Beloit Memorial High School)
Ethan Bennett (Shorewood High School)

OUTSTANDING TROMBONE
Nate Ratchford (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)
Scott Dabbs (McKinney North High School)
Wyatt Gutting (Mountlake Terrace High School)
Jonah Jiang (Orange County School of the Arts)
Owen Ramos (Orange County School of the Arts)
Brett Levin (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Danial Browne (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Ethan Fatolitis (Tarpon Springs High School)
Ben Kornbluh (William H. Hall High School)
Miles Dixon (Young Lions Jazz Conservatory)

HONORABLE MENTION TRUMPET
Saxon Johnson (Alexander Hamilton High School)
Kayla Ang (Bothell High School)
Corrado Scapino (Susan Wagner High School) 

OUTSTANDING TRUMPET
Mathew Harper (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts)
William Ruthardt (McKinney North High School)
Rafael Alvarez Gonzalez (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Xavier Anderson (Osceola County School for the Arts)
Olivia Hernandez (Susan Wagner High School)
Aaron Kneubuhl (Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble)
Luca Posillico (Young Lions Jazz Conservatory)
Tiam Khosravan (Young Lions Jazz Conservatory) 

HONORABLE MENTION LEAD TRUMPET
Nate Bardsley (Bothell High School)

OUTSTANDING LEAD TRUMPET
Pedro Fregoso (Orange County School of the Arts) 

HONORABLE MENTION VOCALS
Camilla Reyna (McKinney North High School)
Ainsley Meyers (Tarpon Springs High School) 

OUTSTANDING VOCALS
Sage Duke (Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts) 

ELLA FITZGERALD OUTSTANDING SOLOIST AWARD
Miri Izenberg (Orange County School of the Arts) 

SUSAN C. GORDON AWARD FOR MOST SOULFUL BAND
Shorewood High School (Shoreline, WA)

The top-placing bands were chosen by a judging panel comprising distinguished jazz musicians, including Marcus Printup, Catherine Russell, Rodney Whitaker, Christine Jensen, and Justin Faulkner.

The 2026 Essentially Ellington Competition Finalists (in alphabetical order):

Agoura High School (Agoura Hills, CA)
Directed by Robert Hackett

Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles, CA)
Directed by Philip Topping

Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts (West Palm Beach, FL)
Directed by Christopher De León

Beloit Memorial High School (Beloit, WI)
Directed by Chris Behrens

Bothell High School (Bothell, WA)
Directed by Zane Romanek

Byron Center High School (Byron Center, MI)
Directed by Marc Townley

Carroll Senior High School (Southlake, TX)
Directed by David Lown

Esperanza High School (Anaheim, CA)
Directed by Bradley Davis

Jazz Houston (Houston, TX)
Directed by David Caceres

McKinney North High School (McKinney, TX)
Directed by Connor Vaughn

Mountlake Terrace High School (Mountlake Terrace, WA)
Directed by Darin Faul

Orange County School of the Arts (Santa Ana, CA)
Directed by Dr. John Reynolds

Osceola County School for the Arts (Kissimmee, FL)
Directed by Jason Anderson

Shorewood High School (Shoreline, WA)
Directed by Dan Baker

Susan Wagner High School (Staten Island, NY)
Directed by Paul Corn

Tarpon Springs High School (Tarpon Springs, FL)
Directed by Dr. Tim Sexton and Chris Faison

Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble (Raleigh, NC)
Directed by Dr. Gregg Gelb

William H. Hall High School (West Hartford, CT)
Directed by Phil Giampietro

Young Lions Jazz Conservatory (San Diego, CA)
Directed by Gilbert Castellanos

Youth Jazz Ensemble of DuPage (Wheaton, IL)
Directed by Robert Blazek

For more information, please visit jazz.org/ee.

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About Jazz at Lincoln Center:
The mission of Jazz at Lincoln Center is to entertain, enrich and expand a global community for Jazz through performance, education, and advocacy. With the world-renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and guest artists spanning genres and generations, Jazz at Lincoln Center produces thousands of performance, education, and broadcast events each season in its New York City home (Frederick P. Rose Hall, “The House of Swing”) and worldwide, for all ages. Jazz at Lincoln Center is led by Chairman Clarence Otis, Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis, and Executive Director Greg Scholl. Please visit us at jazz.org.

Jazz at Lincoln Center proudly acknowledges its 2025-26 season partners: Bloomberg Philanthropies, United Airlines, and Hive & Colony

A very special thanks to Jody and John Arnhold for their extraordinary support of Jazz at Lincoln Center
and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

We proudly recognize leadership support from Dalio Philanthropies; Joseph DiMenna; Ford Foundation; Angela and Robert Kissane;
Mellody Hobson and George Lucas; Michele and Mark Mandel; and the Zou Family Fund.

Major support is provided by the Abrams Foundation; Charina Endowment Fund; Howard Gilman Foundation, Inc.; Manitou Fund;
he Ambrose Monell Foundation; the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; Lisa and David Schiff;
Seedlings Foundation; and an Anonymous donor.

Generous support is provided by the New York State Council on the Arts
with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

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