Statesmen Preview Of Champions Contest July 5th
Three generations of Rochester’s Empire Statesmen organization, the Empire Cadets youth marching band, the competing corps and the Statesmen Alumni All Stars, will be adding some extra zing to Independence Day holiday weekend events, including a July 4 parade in neighboring Irondequoit and the 5th annual Vince Bruni Preview of Champions, at Growney Stadium at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, beginning at 7 pm July 5.
The Preview will be the first contest of the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) season for the Empire Statesmen, who performed in exhibition in Toledo, Ohio on June 21, during the first weekend of Drum Corps International (DCI) competition. Other corps competing in the Preview of Champions are Hawthorne Caballeros, Syracuse Brigadiers, Rochester Crusaders and Dansville White Sabers. For ticket information, call (585) 266-2232.
Up to 100 All Stars, open to anyone who has ever marched in a Statesmen uniform over the past 25 years, including those who are marching with other competing corps this season, will start the holiday festivities marching in Irondequoit’s parade at 11 am Friday, July 4, followed by a picnic in Rochester’s waterfront Durand Eastman Park with members of the 2008 corps. The All Stars are invited to watch the final run-through of the Statesmen’s field show at practice Friday evening, before everyone heads off for some socializing in Bath Tub Billy’s, the favorite north-end gathering spot of the Statesmen.
The Empire Cadets and the All Stars will both appear in exhibition during the Preview of Champions. The All Stars will perform such long time crowd favorites as I Go To Rio, Yankee Doodle and Moonlight Serenade.
The Statesmen are performing some of the most popular numbers from their field presentations over the past two and half decades during this anniversary season, highlighting the three main musical themes that have defined routines since 1983: songs from the Big Band era, selections from some of the most popular shows ever to appear on Broadway, and patriotic salutes to the men and women of the armed services. The anniversary theme is a tribute to corps founder Vince Bruni, who passed away in 2003.
The field show for 2008 features an opening fanfare of Moonlight Serenade, followed by Take The A Train and Sing, Sing, Sing. The arrangement of My Way will include snippets of Broadway hits Sun and Moon, the love ballad from Miss Saigon, and With Every Breath I Take, the lover’s lament from City of Angels. The percussion section feature is The Rumble, from West Side Story. The show comes to a conclusion with a stirring patriotic medley.
Before the summer contest season winds up in Rochester’s downtown PAETEC Park Stadium on Labor Day weekend during the Drum Corps Associates (DCA) world championship tournament, the Statesmen will compete on nine weekends in a row in five different states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Since first competing in 1983, the Empire Statesmen have won five DCA world championships, four American Legion national titles, and the triple crown: the DCA and American Legion titles and the World Show Band championship in London, England all in the same year in 1998, when the field show featured music from West Side Story. Empire Statesmen have finished in the top four during DCA championship tournaments for 20 consecutive years. The Statesmen are sponsoring the DCA championships for the third year in a row, with events in several downtown Rochester locations and at PAETEC Park.
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 more information about any aspect of the Empire Statesmen organization, call (585) 266-2232 or visit the Empire Statesmen Web site at: www.statesmen.org
