The Oregon Crusaders Drum and Bugle Corps was a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Portland, Oregon, the corps is a member of Drum Corps International and was the undefeated Division III champion in 2004 and the undefeated Open Class (formerly Divisions II & III) champion in 2012. On January 13, 2019, the Oregon Crusaders informed DCI that they would not be participating in the 2019 season.
History The original Oregon Crusaders junior drum and bugle corps was founded in Oregon City in 1971 by brothers Ron and David Jones, with 15-year-old David as Corps Director and 16-year-old Ron as composer, arranger, and drill designer. The first-year corps consisted of a drill team with drumline, and is distinguished for suffering a bus breakdown as its 40 members were en route to the unit's only scheduled performance. The brothers reorganized in 1972, acquiring sponsorship of the Dickinson's Gourmet Preserves Company (now owned by Smuckers) and fielded as Dickinson's Oregon Crusaders. In 1973, the corps merged with the Imperial Cadets and marched as the 115 member Imperial Crusaders, but returned as the Oregon Crusaders in 1974 when the two corps split. After the Jones brothers aged out, the corps lapsed into inactivity.
In 1999, Rick Wise inaugurated a corps in Medford then known as the Southern Oregon Crusaders, though not affiliated with the original entity. In 2001, a collection of Southern Oregon Crusaders personnel along with a new group of staff members moved to reorganize the unit. Bill Perkins was named executive director, and Portland, Oregon was designated as the corps' new home. The name was also shortened to, "Oregon Crusaders." In 2002 and 2003 the growing corps performed valiantly throughout the west coast garnering the attention of the larger drum corps community despite fledgling membership and shoestring budget, which would include borrowed uniforms, horns and percussion equipment. In 2004, the corps traveled throughout the Western United States on its way to the DCI World Championships in Denver, where the corps won the Division III title to complete an undefeated season.In seven of the next eight seasons, the corps competed in Division II/Open Class. In 2012, they won the Open Class Division and were later promoted to World Class. On January 13, 2019, The organization announced that it would not be competing in the 2019 season.
The Oregon Crusaders organization also sponsored OC Indoor, which has ensembles that competed in the Northwest Association for Performing Arts and Winter Guard International circuits.
The Oregon Crusaders Independent Percussion Ensemble, organized in 2008, took first place at the 2009 WGI World Championships in the Percussion Independent A (PIA) and finished 3rd in 2010. In the 2011 season, the unit moved into World Class competition and has finished in WGI Independent World Class Finals in 2011, 2013, and 2014. Compass Rose, formerly the Oregon Crusaders Independent Colorguard was a finalist in WGI Independent Open World in 2014 and 2015.
Show summary (2000–2018) +KeyLight blue background indicates DCI Open Class FinalistGolden background indicates DCI Open Class ChampionPale green background indicates DCI World Class Semifinalist
Year Repertoire Score Placement 2000 Music with a Latin FlairLivin' la Vida Loca by Ricky Martin / Smooth by Carlos Santana and Rob Thomas / Hot, Hot, Hot by Alphonsus Cassell aka Arrow Did not attendWorld Championships 2001 Fantasia 2000Fifth Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven / The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Paul Dukas / The Firebird by Igor Stravinsky 2002 StormworksThe Storm, Mourning of Destruction & Rebuilding (from Stormworks) by Stephen Melillo 2003 Mysterious Mountain: A Tribute to the Music of Alan HovhanessMysterious Mountain (Symphony 1) & Mount St. Helens Symphony (Symphony 50) by Alan Hovhaness 2004 Metro MetalBronze: Ride by Samuel Hazo / Silver: Sleep by Eric Whitacre / Gold: Tempered Steel by Charles Rochester Young 65.150 1st PlaceDivision III 87.425 7th PlaceDivisions II & III 2005 The Sands of TimeFestival of Light by Stephen Melillo / Vintage by David Gillingham / Original Music by Lewis Norfleet 88.575 7th PlaceDivision II 88.600 9th Place 2006 EchoEcho by Lewis Norfleet / Snow Caps by Richard Saucedo / Equus by Eric Whitacre 92.675 4th PlaceDivision II 2007 Gates1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass / Concerto for Marimba and Orchestra by Ney Rosauro / Acrostic Song (from Final Alice) by David Del Tredici / Wild Nights (from Harmonium) by John Adams 80.750 5th PlaceDivision III 2008 Inner ConnectionsInner Connections by Todd Zimbelman and Nancy Galbraith 93.025 4th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 2009 EquilibriumPhiladelphia Stories by Michael Daugherty 87.950 8th PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 2010 Dance of the FlamesThe Dance of the Flames by Arno Elias / Arabian Waltz by Rabih Abou-Khalil / Of Sailors and Whales by W. Francis McBeth / Hope (from The Prayer Cycle) by Jonathon Elias / Kingfishers Catch Fire by John Mackey 94.000 2nd PlaceOpen ClassFinalist 2011 The Blue HourMoonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven / Blue Shades by Frank Ticheli / A Hymn to a Blue Hour by John Mackey / Variciones Concertantes, Op. 23 by Alberto Ginastera 94.700 2nd ClassOpen ClassFinalist 75.150 22nd PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2012 Dreaming In ColorSleep by Eric Whitacre / Detours by Travis Moddison / El Tango de Roxanne (from Moulin Rouge!) by Sting and Mariano Mores, adapted by Craig Armstrong / Libertango by Astor Piazolla / Channel One Suite by Bill Reddie / Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin / Fantasia on the Dargason by Gustav Holst / Rondeau (from Abdelazer) by Henry Purcell / Simple Gifts by Joseph Brackett / Kingfishers Catch Fire by John Mackey 95.250 1st PlaceOpen ClassChampion 77.450 19th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2013 My Heart, My Battle, My SoulGoing Home (from Symphony No. 9) by Antonín Dvořák, adapted by William Arms Fisher / Summertime (from Porgy and Bess) by George Gershwin / House of the Rising Sun (Traditional) / Rolling In The Deep by Adele / Jericho by Morton Gould 81.050 17th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2014 NevermoreMind Heist (from Inception) by Zack Hemsey / Huapango by Kevin Walczyk / The Alabados Song by Paul Bissell / The Hymn of Acxiom & My Medea by Vienna Teng / Nocturne, Op. 33 & Medea's Dance of Vengeance. Op. 23A by Samuel Barber 80.100 19th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2015 The Midnight GardenCinderella Suite (No. 1, I. Introduction: No 1, III. Quarrel: No 1, VII. Cinderella's Waltz) by Sergei Prokofiev / Lavender's Blue (Traditional) / Who Is She? & Pumpkin Pursuit (from Cinderella) by Patrick Doyle 78.550 17th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2016 HuntedHunter by Björk / NO one To kNOW one by Andy Akiho / Who Wants to Live Forever by Brian May (Queen) / Knights of Cydonia by Matthew Bellamy (Muse) / Death Hunt by Bernard Herrmann 79.725 18th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2017 EnCompassEnigma Variations by Edward Elgar / Only Time by Enya / Where The Streets Have No Name by Bono / The Edge by Adam Clayton, & Larry Mullen Jr. (U2) 79.050 20th PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist 2018 REDЯUMDies Irae by Hector Berlioz / Music for Strings, Percussion and Celeste by Béla Bartók / Uninvited by Alanis Morissette / Danse Macabre by Camille Saint-Saëns / Midnight and the Stars and You by Harry Woods, Jimmy Campbell and Reg Connelly / Symphony for Organ and Orchestra by Aaron Copland 77.100 22nd PlaceWorld Class Semifinalist
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