More than 330 kick off the Cadets' Audition Camp
Monday, November 24, 2008
By: Caryn Goebel

Special 75th Anniversary season unites young and old

Brass Caption Supervisor Gino Cipriani conducts the hornline during the Cadets Audition and Experience Camp this past weekend. Below, veteran Cadets assist tuba players on how to lift and carry the horn.

WOODSTOWN, N.J. - Just a few weeks ago, 16-year-old Kevin Leboeuf finished out the Fall high school marching band season with Immaculata High School. It could have been the time to put his feet up and coast into the holidays, but not so for this Milford, N.J., teen. The 2009 Cadets have been on Leboeuf’s mind for some time and attending the corps’ Audition and Experience Camp last weekend was his way to find out if the legendary Maroon and Gold was indeed the place for him. 

“This is pretty incredible,” Leboeuf said, following Friday night’s first rehearsal. With the echoes of the chorale “Canterbury” still hanging in the air, he was gratified. “It felt so amazing to be a part of that hornline tonight.” 

Leboeuf wasn’t alone. Nearly 250 new faces were seen at the Cadets Audition and Experience Camp held Nov. 21-23 at Woodstown High School in Woodstown, N.J. They blended wonderfully with nearly 80 veterans of the corps returning to be a part of a remarkable 75th Anniversary season. 

The camp was the first of six scheduled for the 2009 corps that met in a new location, Woodstown High School in Woodstown, N.J.  

“Band Director Jim Ludlam is great, as were the custodians,” said Justin Heimbecker, Assistant Director of the Cadets. “It was a squeeze, but so would be any school with 300 musicians and performers. There was a ton of great talent, and the staff, volunteers, and Cadets - new and old - had a great weekend.” 

The weekend included a steady pace of music and visual sectionals, private auditions and sit-downs with Cadets Director George Hopkins, who expressed to returning and future Cadets that the upcoming 75th Anniversary season was truly something special. 

“This corps is going to march this year, and this year only, as the Holy Name Cadets,” Hopkins said. “We’re doing this in recognition of the 75-years of alumni that came before us. We have not given the matter a great deal of publicity yet but soon, we will launch for the world what looks to be a tremendous season.” 

Not only will the Cadets return to their founding namesake for the season, they will also look back to musical selections by the well-known and loved composer Leonard Bernstein. Titled “Lenny,” the program for the Cadets will revisit music cherished by the corps for decades. 

“We’ve done Bernstein nine times in the past 26-years,” Hopkins said. “This corps has a lot of history, and many successes, with his music. This season won’t be a lot of rehashes of what we’ve already done, but we will be piecing music together to revisit some of his greatest works. West Side Story, On the Waterfront, and On the Town are just a few of the selections the corps will be visiting.”

The connection for the Cadets and Bernstein are ideal during the corps’ exciting 75th Anniversary as the New York Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall have also begun celebrating an extraordinary year. The two groups have joined in presenting Bernstein: The Best of All Possible Worlds to commemorate the 90th Anniversary of the composer’s birth and the 50th Anniversary of his appointment as music director of the New York Philharmonic. 

For Bass Drummer Alex Hinson, a long-time admiration for the Cadets in combination with the Bernstein program made the time right to see what the corps had to offer. The former member of Memphis Sound and The Academy flew in from Birmingham, Ala., to attend the audition camp.

“I’ve been watching the Cadets since I was in middle school ever since I learned what drum corps was,” Hinson said. “And it’s always sat there in the back of my mind that I needed to come see what the Cadets were about.”

AUDITIONS CONTINUE

More than 100 percussionists attended the Cadets Audition Camp.

The Cadets gather for their second camp on Dec. 12-14 at Woodstown High School in Woodstown, N.J., and will continue the audition process for all three sections. There is no GUARD rehearsal until April but brass and percussion auditions will continue through December. Guard members are welcome to audition via video submission through the winter. ALSO, at the December camp, the corps will be learning over 2:30 minutes of this year’s show material

Read more about becoming a member in the 2009 Holy Name Cadets.

Questions about camp and auditions should be directed to Heimbecker at Justin@yea.org, or by telephone at (610) 821-0345, Ext. 12.

View a full schedule of events for the Cadets 75th Anniversary Season.