Empire Cadets Independence Day Weekend Performances
The Empire Cadets, the youth marching band operated through the community outreach program of Rochester’s Empire Statesmen, will be adding a touch of entertainment in 3-D to two major events on the July 4 holiday weekend. The instruction program offered to the Empire Cadets helps the young members develop three important qualities: dedication, discipline and dynamism.
The Empire Cadets will perform in exhibition during the third annual Vince Bruni Preview of Champions contest at Wegmans Stadium at Aquinas Institute on July 1, then march in the neighboring town of Irondequoit’s annual July 4 parade. Music performed by the Cadets this year includes a rousing version of It’s A Grand Old Flag, When the Saints Go Marching In, and I Go To Rio.
Empire Cadet activities are geared to the school year. The band’s summer break begins after the July 4 parade, with regular practices starting again in October. The Empire Cadets performance schedule this year has included winter stage concerts in Rochester and surrounding communities, the Rochester Lilac Festival Parade and Memorial Day Parades. More than 15,000 youngsters have participated in the youth program since it was founded by the late Vince Bruni in 1975. The youth group has operated under various names over that 30-year period.
The Preview of Champions is named in honored of Vince Bruni, who founded the World Drum Corps Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Empire Statesmen in 1983, and served as director of both until his passing in 2003.
The Preview of Champions will feature a rematch between Empire Statesmen and defending Drum Corps Associates (DCA) champion Reading Buccaneers, following the Bucs’ season-opening victory in Wildwood, NJ on June 17. Statesmen finished second to the Buccaneers in Wildwood, and in last fall’s DCA championship tournament. Five-time DCA champion Syracuse Brigadiers will also be competing, along with Rochester Crusaders and the White Sabers of Dansville, NY. The Preview of Champions will include an exhibition performance by Mighty St. Joe’s Alumni Corps, of Leroy, NY, as well as the Empire Cadets.
The Empire Statesmen, also five-time DCA champions, are also sponsoring the three-day DCA Labor Day weekend championship tournament, being held in Rochester for the first time since 1996.
The Empire Statesmen drum and bugle corps is a self-supporting independent group that represents the city of Rochester across the United States and Canada and as far abroad as Europe, the Caribbean and South America. The Empire Statesmen are known for their high quality, entertaining performances on the contest field, concert stage and in street parades and other special events.
For ticket information about the Vince Bruni Preview of Champions and the DCA championships, call (585) 266-2232 or visit the Empire Statesmen Web site at: www.statesmen.org
