Empire Statesmen Mini-Corps Concert For Rochester Visitors’ Association
An Empire Statesmen mini-corps will perform a short concert during the annual meeting of the Greater Rochester Visitors’ Association (GRVA) on June 12, as part of a campaign to increase community awareness.
The noon concert at the downtown Hyatt Hotel, arranged by Empire Statesmen executive committee member Tim James, who is director of sales at the GRVA, will take place just four days before the Empire Statesmen kick of the summer contest season in Wildwood, New Jersey on June 16.
The Empire Statesmen have been emphasizing community involvement since the beginning of the year, performing in several winter benefit concerts to support area high school music programs, marching in the largest-ever Rochester Lilac Festival parade, participating in Memorial Day parades in neighboring Irondequoit and Pittsford on the recent holiday weekend, then performing a special family festival concert in Geneva, New York during last weekend’s rehearsal camp at Hobart College.
One of the priority projects of the Empire Statesmen executive committee is to work with school officials to offer area students the opportunity to participate, at no cost, in the Empire Cadets youth music program. In Rochester, as in many other cities across North America, school music programs have been reduced because of budget restrictions.
Participation in community events is expected to not only increase awareness about the Empire Statesmen’s entertainment capabilities, but to attract donors to the current capital fund raising campaign to provide ongoing support for the Statesmen and Empire Cadets, the youth marching band sponsored as a community outreach program.
Other high profile events being organized by the Statesmen this summer include the fourth annual Vince Bruni Preview of Champions, to be held at St. John Fisher College on Saturday, July 7 and the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championship tournament on Labor Day weekend. The Preview of Champions will include Empire Statesmen, Syracuse Brigadiers, Hawthorne Caballeros, Dansville White Sabers and Rochester Crusaders in competition, and the Empire Cadets in exhibition.
Tickets for the Vince Bruni Preview of Champions are available by calling (585) 266-2232. Ticket information about the 2007 DCA championship weekend is available through the DCA website, at http://www.dcacorps.org/
The Empire Statesmen organization, founded by Vince Bruni in 1983, also offers many opportunities for involvement beyond participating as a performer or support staff volunteer. 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.
For information, call (585) 266-2232 or visit the Empire Statesmen Web site at: www.statesmen.org
