Twenty-Five Years of Sonnor
Oct 5, 2009
The measure of success differs for everyone. And for a winter guard from the South Shore of Montreal, Canada, success is measured in being able to field a competitive guard year after year even though there are no high school groups, drum corps or dance programs to recruit from. Not an easy task – to say the least!
2010 is a very special year in Sonnor’s history. It will be the guard’s 25th season competing in WGI. In order to celebrate this milestone, Sonnor will be going back to World Class – as the anniversary season has created an influx of members from past Sonnor groups.
A bit of history: Sonnor started out as a drum corps in 1978 and decided to create a winter guard in 1985 to keep the summer guard participants involved during the winter months. The WGI crowd first witnessed Sonnor in 1986 as they narrowly missed A Class Finals that year. In 1987, after dominating A Class for most of the season, Sonnor made the decision to move to Open Class (now world) and finished the season 18th. 1988 saw the first of many subsequent Sonnor guards to make finals with their “Welcome to Paris” production. Over the last 25 years, Sonnor has been a 12-time WGI World Championship finalist.
Sonnor has always strived to bring something new to the arena. In 1988 & 1989, Sonnor’s over the top French productions of “Welcome to Paris” and “An American in Paris” brought props, costume changes and storylines to a whole new level. The ‘90’s saw Sonnor develop a very subtle and mature approach to body and equipment with “The Sensual World” in 1991, “Three Babies” in 1992 and “Slave to the Rhythm” in 1994 (to name just a few). In the 2000’s Sonnor explored restrained yet elegant musicality within staging and flag work while developing a more classical approach to show programming.
Many well known people have taught Sonnor over the years. In the 80’s they had Enock Turcotte, Robin Shaw and Barry Kilroy at the helm. The 90’s saw Billy Jurberg, Shawn O’Brien, David Meikle, Paul Gélinas and even George Zingali lend a hand in developing the distinctive Sonnor style. The mid 90’s saw Sonnor having to start anew with past members such as Denis Berger, Christine Rivard and Pascale Desparois now on staff and ensuring that Sonnor would have a future. Most recently, Fred Marier (from St-Anne’s and Blessed Sac) has joined the homegrown staff (Fred had also marched Sonnor in 1995)
For most people in Quebec, Sonnor means family. Miss Jacline Hardy has been the main director of the group for over 27 years, and instructors Michael Watier and Christine Rivard have been with the group on and off for well over 20 years. Not to mention long term dedicated members such as Marie-Hélène Pratte and Isabelle Plante who have been marching with the group for over 13 years.
For the 2010 season, Sonnor will be presenting a very personal show titled “Forward”. The show is an homage to Sonnor’s past, present and future; Sonnor has faced many obstacles in it’s history, including almost folding in 2008, but always managed to look ahead, move forward and just make it happen year after year. This year’s show will incorporate many iconic Sonnor moments – but with a “modern” twist, helping to ensure that Sonnor keep’s moving forward. Look for a very different twist in show staging and a recognizable – yet totally new approach to music.
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