Blast! Part III: Showtime/Curtain Call
By Mai Tran Every summer, the Emmy and Tony award-winning show Blast! tours Japan, utilizing percussion, brass, and a visual ensemble (VE) to create shows. We spoke to three WGI performers who went on tour with Blast! the music of Disney in 2019, to learn about their experiences. Read Part III of the Q&A feature, […]
Blast! Part II: Setting the Stage
By Mai Tran Every summer, the Emmy and Tony award-winning show Blast! tours Japan, utilizing percussion, brass, and a visual ensemble (VE) to create shows. We spoke to three WGI performers who went on tour with Blast! the music of Disney in 2019, to learn about their experiences. Read Part II of the Q&A feature, […]
Blast! Part I: Unexpected Opportunity
By Mai Tran Every summer, the Emmy and Tony award-winning show Blast! tours Japan, utilizing percussion, brass, and a visual ensemble (VE) to create shows. Many WGI performers have participated in Blast! over the years, submitting detailed video auditions before traveling abroad. We spoke to three performers who went on tour with Blast! the music […]
#iamwgi
We are all WGI
It is safe to say these past weeks have been among some of the most tumultuous and emotional than any of us can remember. The abrupt end to the WGI season, with all its promises of small and big moments, left us to discover something profound and moving about ourselves: an overpowering wish to be […]
Virtual Program Books
WGI Statement on Remaining 2020 Events
With our announcement of the cancellation of the WGI World Championships, questions about remaining events for the year have naturally arisen. On March 12, the Board of Directors unanimously voted to suspend all other events for the remainder of the 2020 season. After reviewing the social distancing recommendations of the CDC, WHO, as well as […]
2020 Solo & Ensemble
Hall of Fame: Caleb Rothe
By Michael Reed 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Caleb Rothe had a unique introduction to the world of WGI. When he was a front ensemble section leader as a senior at Etiwanda HS, he was asked by his instructor to assist with another school, Ayala HS. At his first WGI Regional, Caleb performed with his […]
Hall of Fame: Shane Gwaltney
By Michael Reed In the records of great WGI Percussion Championship shows, three that readily come to mind are Music City Mystique’s Se7en, Mantra, and The Hand of Man. 2020 Hall of Fame inductee Shane Gwaltney lead the design team that created those shows. While many designers specialize in either the visual or musical aspect, […]
Avon HS: Looking Back
By Jenny Lyons “Music was his life, it was not his livelihood, And it made him feel so happy and it made him feel so good. And he sang from his heart and he sang from his soul. He did not know how well he sang; It just made him whole.” In 1990, an eighteen […]
Hall of Fame: Tim Bray
By Michael Reed In the 27 years WGI has hosted Percussion World Championships, there aren’t many ensembles that have competed as long as Tunstall High School. In the Scholastic Concert Percussion realm, their longevity has no equal, as they’ve competed every year since 1996. Their leader for that entire time is 2020 Hall of Fame […]
WGI Announces New Training Partnership with U.S. Center for SafeSport
WGI Sport of the Arts, the world’s leading producer of indoor events for color guards, percussion ensembles, and marching winds groups, today announced the creation of a strategic partnership with the U.S. Center for SafeSport. The partnership will focus on providing training to safeguard those participating in WGI from bullying, harassment, hazing, physical abuse, emotional […]
WGI Welcomes BAND App as a 2020 Sponsor
WGI Sport of the Arts, the world’s leader in producing indoor marching arts events for color guard, percussion ensembles and winds groups, announced today that BAND App will serve as a Corporate Partner for the 2020 WGI season. BAND App, a leading group communication app, is built to help organize and facilitate peer-to-peer communication. “Heading into […]
Hamilton Southeastern HS: An Underdog Story
By Caroline Meister 2018—Hamilton Southeastern Indoor Percussion Ensemble competes in WGI Percussion Prelims and ends their season with a score of 79. 2019—Hamilton Southeastern Indoor Percussion Ensemble competes in the WGI Percussion World Championships and advances to Scholastic Marching A Semi-Finals for the first time ever. They end their season with a fourth-place Finals finish […]
CGT: Splitting Tradition
By Annie Hollon Following a successful five years filled with memorable pre-shows, a 2018 WGI Fan Favorite award and an Open Class silver medal, the Color Guard Theatre Performing Ensembles—more commonly known as CGT—will once again be represented by two World Class performing ensembles for the WGI 2020 season. So, what’s new? This time around, […]
Symbiotic Success: Cleveland HS Winds
By Caroline Meister “As a band director, my number one goal is to have students appreciate music and performing.” –Jason Heard, Director of Cleveland HS Winds Cleveland HS at WGI World Championships (2019) Cleveland High School Winds isn’t an instantly recognizable name. When said, one probably doesn’t nod their head knowingly and their eyes don’t […]
WGI Fan Club: The Ultimate Fan Experience
Get the ultimate fan package with the WGI Fan Club. By becoming a member of the “WGI Fan Club,” your tax-deductible donation grants you larger club seating spaces and access to a new private lounge, hosting invitation-only receptions throughout World Championships World Semi Finals, A Finals, Open Finals and World Finals events. Gain access to the […]
Paramount: The Elusive Horizon
By Jenny Lyons Paramount’s 2019 program lives. It breathes in soft airy breaths. It ebbs and flows like waves to a shore or wind through the trees. Each moment is as fluid and ephemeral as the next. Each event is complex, exponentially textured and layered—scattering in a flurry of performers before it has a chance […]
Vortex Indoor Winds: The Road to Dayton
By Trudy Horsting The Beginnings Vortex Indoor Winds (2019) With WGI Winds in a constant state of growth, the arrival of an independent winds group to the state of New York was inevitable. Championing the inevitable, Keller Shelton, Nieves Villasenor and Dan English introduced Vortex Indoor Winds to the local-circuit scene in 2019. On the […]
