Staff Sergeant Julian Jenkins joined the West Point Band in September 2016. He previously served as clarinetist with the Eighth Army Band in Yongsan, South Korea, and the Army Ground Forces Band at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Staff Sgt. Jenkins is originally from Lancaster, California, where he studied music privately for ten years with Lee Matalon—saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, and student of Phil Sobel. In 2011, he received a Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach, where he studied with Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and Los Angeles Opera clarinetist, Dr. Michael Grego. In 2013, he received a Master of Music in clarinet performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jonathan Gunn, acting principal of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
Staff Sgt. Jenkins joined the Army Band Program in September of 2013. During his time in the Army Bands, he has performed with The Army Field Band for their 2015 Fall tour and at the 2015 Midwest Clinic in Chicago. He has also performed and taught in master classes with the FORSCOM Four Clarinet Quartet at universities in the Midwest and Eastern United States.
Staff Sgt. Jenkins has performed with artists such as Igudesman & Joo while second clarinet for the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra from 2012-2013, and Ben Folds while substituting as second clarinet for the Augusta Symphony Orchestra in 2015. He has participated in master classes by former principal clarinet of New York Philharmonic, Stanley Drucker; Cleveland Orchestra clarinetist Daniel Gilbert; and professor of clarinet at Université de Montréal, André Moisan.
