What we know about Vanguard’s “The aVANt-GUARD”

After a hiatus in 2023, Santa Clara Vanguard made a statement in its return to the DCI Tour last summer, earning sixth place and entertaining audiences with its compelling production, “Vagabond.” In 2025, the corps will look to build upon its return-season momentum. 

With the 2025 DCI Summer Tour, on the horizon, here’s what we know about Santa Clara Vanguard’s 2025 production, “The aVANt-Guard:”

1 | Getting experimental

Vanguard’s show title is more than clever wordplay. “The aVANt-Guard” draws a line between the corps’ iconic name and the avant-garde movement, known for pushing artistic boundaries.

In the corps’ show reveal video, Santa Clara breaks it down: “Vanguard” refers to those leading the charge, while “avant-garde” points to trailblazers in the arts and ideas.

Vanguard very well might be leaning further into experimental territory this year. New sounds, bold visuals, and some well-calculated creative risks could help the corps live up to the title.

2 | A familiar feel

Composers selected for Vanguard’s 2025 repertoire are no strangers to the drum corps activity, and with names like John Corigliano and John Psathas, they’re no stranger to the California corps either.

Along with the Blue Knights and Academy, Vanguard leaned on Psathas’ collected works a year ago, performing “The All-Seeing Sky” as part of their “Vagabond” production. Corigliano’s “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” was another one that made SCV’s repertoire list In 2015.

Music theater fans, rejoice —The legendary Stephen Sondheim is also on the corps’ list for 2025, adding a little bit of Broadway into the mix. It has yet to be revealed which of Sondheim’s hits is coming to the field this season, but Vanguard fans would have instant nostalgia for “Send in the Clowns” from Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music,” the corps’ longtime encore tune and anthem.

3 | A hint of hip-hop

Like many DCI productions, Vanguard’s show consists of both classical and modern pieces of music. However, it also includes work from English recording artist FKA twigs, mostly known for her dance and electronic style of music.

FKA twigs is often described as an avant-garde style of artist, fitting well with Vanguard’s theme for 2025. Her experimental and exploratory subgenre of music only contribute to the avant-garde concept.

She may be relatively new to the drum corps stage, but FKA twigs isn’t lacking for industry impact. She recently received the award for outstanding contribution to UK Music by the Music Producers Guild, has nearly three million monthly listeners on Spotify, and 2.5 million followers on Instagram.

Some of Vanguard’s most iconic productions have ventured into dance music, including 2018’s championship-winning program, “Babylon,” which featured the music of Gent and Jawns.

4 | Bringing it back to Bartók

Along the theme of composers, Vanguard will also be featuring the music of Béla Bartók.

The drum corps world is well-versed in Bartók’s work, with iconic uses by the 2003 Phantom Regiment and 1993 Star of Indiana. Bartók even served as the feature artist of Vanguard’s aptly-named 2010 program, “Bartók.”

While Bartók is a known quantity in drum corps, his work was more popularly used prior to the past decade, so it’ll be exciting for newer fans to be (re)introduced to the Hungarian composer on the DCI Tour in 2025.

See Santa Clara Vanguard on the 2025 DCI Tour

Search Post