In the world of SoundSport — Drum Corps International’s all-ages, all-instrumentation division — success is measured by entertainment, education and creativity. For one Virginia-based ensemble, it is also measured by the power of flexibility.
This summer, Sonus Brass Theater is celebrating a major milestone: 10 years of bringing its high-energy, entertainment-driven brand of performance to the SoundSport stage.
Back in 2015, the Woodbridge, Virginia-based organization was struggling to find the numbers required to field a traditional all-age drum corps. Rather than packing it in, leadership pivoted, taking a chance on DCI’s then-burgeoning SoundSport format and the creative freedom it offered.
“[SoundSport] sounded like a perfect fit for us,” Sonus Brass Theater director Sean Peck said. “The minimum size requirements, the reduced staging, entertainment being the principal value factor for the performance. That’s what we’ve always been as an organization, really focused on audience engagement.”
Since making the leap, Sonus has become a SoundSport mainstay and one of the longest continually active ensembles in the program since DCI launched the initiative in 2013. With a decade of experience under their belts, the group’s design team has mastered the art of tailoring their productions to their talent.
“It’s fun because we know the strengths of all the membership,” visual caption head and drum major Anthony Fiumara said. “We know certain years we have really good soloists or really good members at specific instruments, and we can design around that and let them show off. We design a program that we think is going to be entertaining and engaging. When we’re off the stage, we want people to go, ‘Oh, I know that song,’ or ‘This is familiar,’ and hum it on the way out the door.”
As the only DCI/SoundSport ensemble in the immediate Washington, D.C. area, community outreach is deeply ingrained in the Sonus culture. While their summer schedule as part of the DCI Tour typically features three to five shows across Pennsylvania and New Jersey, culminating at the SoundSport International Music and Food Festival during DCI World Championships Week in Indianapolis, their local roots remain paramount.
This summer features a brand-new collaboration with the Prince William County Community Band, an organization Peck is also involved with.
“We typically do six parades in two days over July 4th weekend. We do our season kickoff every year in Winchester, Virginia, the Apple Blossom Festival parade the first weekend in May,” Peck said. “The Community Band has a concert in July that we are going to perform at in conjunction with them, so we’ll introduce a lot of people who have never seen drum corps to what we do.”
That local engagement perfectly aligns with a goal behind SoundSport since its founding: acting as an accessible introduction to the marching arts and a springboard for aspiring musicians.
“We’re affordable, we have an easy schedule, and we’ve had a lot of success with the local kids,” Fiumara said. “We’re very proud of that, and we’re proud of our longevity.”
Looking further ahead to Sonus Brass Theater’s future in SoundSport, Peck and Fiumara remain steadfast in their mission to provide high-level performance and personal musical growth opportunities. The corps’ membership puts immense dedication into the experience, and Peck notes that it’s the passion of those performers that inspires the staff to keep pushing forward.
“We’ll have a weekend rehearsal and we’re reminded why we do this,” Peck said. “Because [the performers] are excited about it, it makes us excited about it again. Other than the performance itself, that’s the most rewarding part of this activity.”
Sonus will officially debut its 10th-anniversary production, “All That Glitters,” at the Drum Corps Grand Prix in Clifton, New Jersey, on July 11. The production is set to feature an eclectic set of repertoire ranging from Take 6 and JVKE to music from the Netflix animated movie “K-Pop Demon Hunters.”
