New faces, classic swagger: Cavaliers turn the page in 2025

For The Cavaliers, the theme entering 2025 is paradoxical. 

The Rosemont, Illinois corps — one of the most decorated active DCI organizations, with more than half a dozen World Championship titles and a history spanning seven-plus decades — has a unique mix of two polar opposites. 

New and old. 

With a brand-new design team featuring experienced drum corps professionals from various circles of the activity, as well as returning characteristics and influences from the corps’ past, The Cavaliers are developing the foundations for an intriguing identity for the 2025 DCI Tour. 

“The goal is going to be to give people something they think they already love,” artistic director Rick Subel said, “and then take it in a different direction — something unexpected and surprising always around the corner. From a pacing perspective, I think the show is going to be a thrill ride.”

“There’s going to be some new things, some different things you see from us,” said drum sergeant Zach McKitrick, “but also with the old Cavalier swagger.”

 

Among The Cavaliers’ team of designers for 2025 are a number of new faces — Subel, music coordinator Kevin Shah and visual coordinator Lindsey Vento — who have all held high-ranking creative roles with DCI World Class corps.

Luckily, as Vento noted, many members of The Cavaliers’ current design team have worked together in varying capacities over the course of their marching arts careers, which has brought a sense of familiarity to an unfamiliar cohort. 

“We’ve all designed shows together before, or we’ve been on staff together before,” she said. “So, you have all of these mini-relationships that you’ve had success with over time, and you’re putting them into this one melting pot.”

Another face that’s certainly not new to the drum corps activity, but is very new to The Cavaliers organization, is brass arranger Jay Bocook. 

Bocook’s work spans far outside the drum corps activity, with his works being featured in the likes of the Olympic Games, Disney productions, and more. A GRAMMY-nominated arranger who entered the DCI Hall of Fame in 2009, Bocook spent nearly 30 years working with The Cadets, during a window that saw the corps win five gold medals.

“He is one of the greatest of all time,” Shah said. “To be able to work together on a music book is something truly magical for me personally, and I think that the corps is really excited.”

Visual caption manager Jeremy Seneca noted the corps’ plans to reintegrate “bent-leg” marching technique, a movement style synonymous with much of The Cavaliers’ history. 

“We’re so excited to re-teach The Cavaliers’ marching technique,” he said. “There’s definitely a hunger (among the members) to march the way our alumni marched back in the day.”

Of course, The Cavaliers’ offseason has been full of exciting changes, but they’re changes nonetheless.

It’s been an adjustment for the corps, but according to drum major Will Colavitti, open, transparent communication has helped the corps’ design team connect with performers. 

“This year, the staff has really been on the ball in terms of getting the production together and keeping everybody in the know about what’s happening and what to expect from their design,” he said. “That’s been really helpful.”

And with just over a month remaining until their first DCI Tour appearance — June 27 in Muncie, Indiana — the corps is confident the old and new will intersect in a compelling way this summer. 

“We're trying to get that energy back, the swagger,” Subel said. “There’s no better word for it than just that — that the students know there's an identity about them.”

View The Cavaliers' 2025 DCI Tour Schedule

gallery-2024-april-camps-blue-stars-the-cavaliers-phantom-regiment