During the summer of 2026, nearly 100 drum corps alumni from across the activity will trade football fields for castles, stadiums for international festivals and a traditional summer tour for a month-long performance experience across Europe.
Blue Devils International, a special ensemble featuring recent alumni from 12 different drum corps organizations, will travel to the Netherlands and Switzerland in July for appearances at the World Music Contest and the internationally renowned Basel Tattoo.
For director Pat Seidling, the project represents far more than a series of performances.
“International travel is so healthy and educational,” Seidling said. “When you land somewhere and see members experiencing a different culture for the first time, their eyes just open up. That’s a really big component of this.”
The 95-member ensemble was selected from a pool of nearly 600 applicants, and includes performers ranging from recent age-outs to accomplished educators and professional musicians. After a week of rehearsals in Wyoming, the group will spend nearly four weeks overseas performing for audiences that number in the thousands each night.
Their tour begins in Kerkrade, Netherlands, where Blue Devils International will participate in the World Music Contest, a massive international music festival held every four years. The ensemble will serve as a featured exhibition group during the event’s opening weekend, performing as part of opening ceremonies and a four-show run alongside marching ensembles from throughout Europe and Asia.
From there, the group will travel to Basel, Switzerland, for the 20th anniversary edition of the Basel Tattoo.
Held annually on the grounds of Kaserne Basel — a castle built in 1863 — the Basel Tattoo has grown into one of the world’s premier music festivals, and last featured an appearance by Blue Devils International in 2015. The event features military bands, pipe bands, cultural ensembles and specialty performers from around the globe in a large-scale production that blends live music, theatrical presentation and international pageantry.
“It’s a really cool event,” Seidling said. “It’s a stage show, a drum corps show and a variety show all at once.”
According to Seidling, Blue Devils International’s production will feature a distinctly “American” flavor.
The ensemble’s instrumentation includes a 54-member brass section, 23 performers in the color guard and a 15-member battery percussion section. The program will feature Americana-inspired repertoire, including selections from Billy Joel, along with appearances by several featured soloists.
“We’re all going to do a sing-along to ‘Piano Man,’” Seidling said.
The ensemble will also collaborate with the famed Kilgore Rangerettes, the iconic Texas precision dance team known internationally for its synchronized kick routines.
As described by Connor Carbonell, who aged out of the Blue Devils after the corps’ 2025 season, the opportunity is difficult to compare to anything else.
“It’s a great victory lap,” he said. “Me and some of my best friends who I’ve spent the past couple years marching with, we’re all now going to Europe. It’s just a super cool experience.”
While many members come from the Blue Devils, performers representing corps from across the DCI universe will caome together for the project. Some are recent age-outs, while others are veteran educators, performers and professionals whose drum corps careers concluded years ago.
“We don’t all know each other, but everybody is really good at what they do,” Connor said. “Some of the people in this group are people I watched online before I ever marched. Now I get to perform alongside them.”
Blue Devils’ history of international performance opportunities stretches back decades with ensembles previously traveling throughout Europe, Asia and South America. Seidling believes those experiences continue to benefit both the performers who participate and the communities they visit.
“Not only are they ambassadors for Blue Devils, they’re ambassadors for drum corps and for America,” he said.
Just as importantly, he added, international audiences often become future participants and advocates for the activity itself.
“People will come up and say they first got involved in drum corps because they saw Blue Devils at one of these international events years ago,” Seidling said. “Then they end up marching a drum corps themselves. That’s really rewarding to see.”
Following performances in the Netherlands and Switzerland, members will return to the United States in time for the conclusion of the 2026 DCI Tour. For many, the trip will provide an opportunity to experience the world alongside fellow performers. For others, it will be a chance to introduce international audiences to drum corps.
In Seidling’s eyes, it’s every bit of both.
“I get to find 100 really cool people from drum corps and go to Europe for a few weeks,” he said. “It’s a pretty fun assignment.”
