# Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps

Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps (commonly referred to as "Phantom") is a World Class competitive junior drum and bugle corps based in Rockford, Illinois, USA. The corps is a long-standing member of Drum Corps International (DCI), having been a DCI World Championship Top Twelve Finalist every year since 1974 and DCI World Champions in 1996 (tie) and 2008.

## History

The corps was founded in 1956 by Alex Haddad, a member of the Col. Thomas G. Lawler VFW Post 342. Under his direction, the corps was named the Rockford Rangers, with all-male drum and bugle sections and an all-female color guard named the Rangerettes. However, when many of the charter members were impressed by the recording of the Syracuse Brigadiers performing the Leroy Anderson composition The Phantom Regiment, the corps' name was changed before the unit made its debut, with the color guard renamed the Phantomettes.
In the corps' early years, the Phantomettes and a corps-sponsored all-boy color guard called the Raiders were competitively successful. The drum and bugle corps, however, struggled. In 1962, the corps bought a set of high quality bugles that had belonged to the Commonwealth Edison Knights of Light Drum and Bugle Corps which had folded two years earlier. With the new instruments and a new brass arranger, the corps began to improve. The old set of bugles went to the newly formed Phantom Regiment Cadets.
Despite the Phantomettes having placed second at the 1962 color guard national championships, in 1963, Phantom Regiment fielded an all-male corps, including the color guard. When scores fell behind those of the previous season, the Phantomettes returned to the corps for 1964. With the girls back in the corps, successful recruitment, and new uniforms, the corps had its best season until that time, including a finish of 15th among 45 corps at the VFW National Championship preliminaries in Cleveland. The Phantomettes were honored in the graphic on the City of Rockford's 1964 vehicle registration stickers. But on August 21, 1964, Regimental Hall, the corps' home base, was badly damaged by a fire. The organization was forced to sell its instruments and uniforms to pay off its debts.
Financially unable to field a corps in 1965 through 1967, alumni and former staff members reorganized and officially incorporated on September 11, 1967. At the first meeting of the newly restructured corps in January, there were 28 members. The Regiment's 1968 drum and horn lines dressed in black pants and a red windbreaker with a black and white vertical stripe on the left side; the guard wore the same windbreaker, black Bermuda shorts and an "Aussie" style hat. The season consisted mostly of parades, with few field contests. The corps owned one vehicle; a red step van to carry the equipment. In that first year of the corps' return, perhaps the corps' greatest asset was its new musical arranger, Phantom Regiment alumnus and future DCI Hall of Fame member, Jim Wren, who would go on to arrange the unit's brass music for the next 32 years.
By 1970, Phantom was able to outfit the corps in new uniforms; a cadet-style jacket with a red diagonal sash dividing the black right side from the white left side, black pants with a white stripe, white buck shoes, and a shako with a 12-inch plume. The corps had grown to 89 members with 40 horns, 14 drums, 24 flags, 12 rifles, and a drum major.
In 1971, Wren started adding the classical music pieces that would become Phantom's trademark along with the usual pop music that most corps were playing. On a Friday the 13th in that year, so the legend goes, all of the corps' buses ran out of fuel; the equipment truck caught fire, not just once, but twice; yet the corps went out and won that night's contest.
Prior to the founding of DCI in 1972, the Phantom Regiment, like most corps of the time, was strictly a local organization. The members and the staff came from Rockford and its surrounding suburbs. Travel to contests was limited to perhaps a few hours of driving. The only "National" competition the corps had ever entered had been the 1964 VFW championships in Cleveland. The corps attended the first DCI competition, in Whitewater, Wisconsin, placing 23rd of 39 corps in prelims. In 1973, The corps returned to Whitewater and moved up to 14th place among 48 corps.
In 1974, Phantom presented its first full program of all-classical musical selections. The corps had grown to DCI's maximum of 128 members, and it took its first extended tour, travelling to Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts en route to the DCI Championships in Ithaca, New York. The corps was beating many of the activity's traditional powers and earning a reputation as a power in its own right. At DCI, the Regiment earned its first Top Twelve Finalist placement, beginning a string that has held through 2024. In prelims, the corps shocked many by placing 8th, although they fell back to 11th at Finals.
Once the corps became a DCI Finalist, it also became become a consistent contender, placing 10th in 1975, 4th in 1976, and having a frustrating run of second-place finishes in 1977, 1978 and 1979 with the corps scoring within tenths of a point from the title.
A fall to a 10th-place finish in 1986 led the corps to take a new approach. Three years of improvement, culminated in 1989 with another second-place finish, with Phantom's score of 98.400 tying the previous DCI highest score ever.
From 1975, Phantom Regiment's field visual shows had been designed by Norm Wheeler through 1979, when in 1980 future DCI Hall of Fame member John Brazale would move from Color Guard caption Head to Visual program Design Caption. Returning home after the 1992 DCI Championships, Brazale had complained of having severe headaches during the last few weeks, and was soon diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and died within months.
In 1996, Phantom Regiment tied the Blue Devils of Concord, California for its first DCI World Championship. Jim Wren arranged for the corps from 1967 through the 1999 season, and then retired as the corps' musical arranger. Michael Klesch took over arranging duties in 2000 and 2001, and was then followed by alumnus J.D. Shaw, who arranged the corps' music from the 2002 season through the 2011 season. After spending the 2012–2019 seasons with the Santa Clara Vanguard, J.D. Shaw returned to Phantom Regiment after the 2019 season.
In 2008, with its performance of "Spartacus", Phantom Regiment defeated the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps by a margin of 0.025 to win its second (and first outright) DCI World Championship.
Through 2019, Phantom Regiment has continued to be a DCI Finalist with the streak extending through 45 consecutive top-12 finishes. In 2022, the first year of competition since the COVID-19 Pandemic, Phantom Regiment returned with their highest placement since 2016, and highest score since 2014.

## Show summary (1972–2024)

Source:
Key :
* Pale blue background indicates DCI World Class Finalist
* Dark gold background indicates DCI World Class Champion
* 1 2 From 1972-1991, Phantom Regiment competed in Open Class; from 1992-2007 in Division I, and since 2008 in World Class. These are the same tier, just renamed.
| Year | Repertoire | World Championships | World Championships |
| Year | Repertoire | Score | Placement |
| 1972 | March (from La damnation de Faust) by Hector Berlioz / The Phantom Regiment by Leroy Anderson / America the Beautiful by Katherine Lee Bates & Samuel A. Ward / Funeral March of a Marionette by Charles Gounod / Poet & Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé / Shot in the Dark by Henry Mancini / Spellbound Concerto by Miklós Rózsa | 64.400 | 23rd Place Open Class |
| 1973 | Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Miklós Rózsa / MacArthur Park by Jimmy Webb / Poet and Peasant Overture & Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppé / Jubilance by James Swearingen | 74.700 | 14th Place Open Class |
| 1974 | Festive Overture & Fifth Symphony by Dmitri Shostakovich / Poet and Peasant Overture by Franz von Suppé / Night on Bald Mountain by Modest Mussorgsky / Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Les Préludes by Franz Liszt | 76.250 | 11th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1975 | American Overture by Joseph Willcox Jenkins / Hungarian Dance No. 5 by Johannes Brahms / Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Pilgrim's Chorus (from Tannhäuser) by Richard Wagner | 81.30 | 10th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1976 | Finale (from Symphony No. 7) by Gustav Mahler / Symphony No. 6 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Tocatta and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Pilgrim's Chorus (from Tannhäuser) by Richard Wagner | 87.75 | 4th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1977 | New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák / Piano Concerto No. 1 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Ode to Joy (from Symphony No. 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven | 90.300 | 2nd Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1978 | Firebird, Rite Of Spring, Petrouchka, Dance Infernale & Sherzo A La Russe by Igor Stravinsky / Piano Concerto in A Minor by Edvard Grieg / Flight of the Bumblebee by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Ode to Joy (from Symphony No. 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven | 91.450 | 2nd Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1979 | Third Symphony by Camille Saint-Saëns / Malambo (from Estancia) by Alberto Ginastera / Morning Mood (from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1), Piano Concerto in A Minor, Hall of the Mountain King (from Peer Gynt Suite No. 1) & March of the Dwarfs (from Lyric Suite) by Edvard Grieg / Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (from Lohengrin) by Richard Wagner | 92.750 | 2nd Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1980 | Russian Easter Overture by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov / Romany Life (from The Fortune Teller) by Victor Herbert / Polovetsian Dances (from Prince Igor) by Alexander Borodin / Masquerade Suite by Carl Nielsen / Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet, adapted by Ernest Guiraud | 88.450 | 5th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1981 | Spartacus Triumph of Rome, Gladiator Fight, Dance of the Rebels, Prelude to Battle, Battle, Sunrise & Apotheosis All from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian | 90.850 | 5th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1982 | Spartacus Triumph of Rome, Slave Dance, Gladiator Fight, Mourning and Uprising, Prelude to Battle, Battle, Sunrise & Apotheosis All from Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian | 92.150 | 4th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1983 | Serenade for Strings, Cossack Dance, Dance Neapolitan & 1812 Overture All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 91.450 | 4th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1984 | Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Armenian Dances by Alfred Reed / Trypitch by Anthony J. Cirone / 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 95.600 | 4th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1985 | Symphony Fantastique Symphony Fantastique by Hector Berlioz | 90.100 | 8th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1986 | Carnival Overture by Antonín Dvořák / Alborada Del Gracioso by Maurice Ravel / Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight & Merlin The Magician by Rick Wakeman / Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler | 85.000 | 10th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1987 | Songs from the Winter Palace Selections from Swan Lake & The Nutcracker by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 94.300 | 5th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1988 | Romeo and Juliet Selections from Romeo and Juliet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Sergei Prokofiev | 93.500 | 6th Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1989 | From The New World... Into A New Age Symphony No. 9, Mvts. 1 & 2; Slavonic Dances No. 1; Symphony No. 9, Mvt. 4 All by Antonín Dvořák | 98.400 | 2nd Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1990 | Dreams of Desire Symphony No. 3, "Organ Symphony", Mvt. 4; The Elephant & Finale (from The Carnival of the Animals) & Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) All by Camille Saint-Saëns | 95.300 | 4th Place Open Class Finalist (tie) |
| 1991 | Phantom Voices Nessun Dorma (from Turandot) by Giacomo Puccini / Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo / Bacchanale (from Samson and Delilah) by Camille Saint-Saëns | 95.400 | 3rd Place Open Class Finalist |
| 1992 | War and Peace Marche Slav by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Marseillaise by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle / 1812 Overture by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 91.500 | 8th Place Division I Finalist |
| 1993 | The Modern Imagination The Landworkers, The Wheat Dance & Danza Final (from Estancia) by Alberto Ginastera / The Fire of Eternal Glory (Novorossik Chimes) by Dmitri Shostakovich / Death Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground) by Bernard Herrmann | 96.200 | 3rd Place Division I Finalist |
| 1994 | Songs for a Summer Night Ritual Fire Dance (from El amor brujo) by Manuel de Falla / Claire De Lune by Claude Debussy / Talking Drums (from White Witch Doctor), Theme from North by Northwest & Death Hunt (from On Dangerous Ground) by Bernard Herrmann | 96.200 | 3rd Place Division I Finalist |
| 1995 | Adventures Under a Darkened Sky Symphonic Dances, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Variation 18), Piano Concerto No. 2 & Capriccio Bohemian All by Sergei Rachmaninoff | 94.100 | 5th Place Division I Finalist |
| 1996 | A Defiant Heart: The Music of Dmitri Shostakovich Ballet Suite No. 4; Symphony No. 1, Mvt. 2 & Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 4 All by Dmitri Shostakovich | 97.400 | 1st Place Division I Champion (tie) |
| 1997 | The Ring Hagen's Call to the Clan (from Götterdämmerung), Magic Fire Music (from Die Walküre), Hammering of the Ring (from Das Rheingold) & Die Götterdämmerung (from Götterdämmerung) All from Der Ring des Nibelungen by Richard Wagner | 94.200 | 4th Place Division I Finalist |
| 1998 | Songs from the Eternal City: The Music of Rome Roman Carnival Overture by Hector Berlioz / Un Bel Di (from Madama Butterfly) by Giacomo Puccini / Pines of the Villa Borghese & Pines of the Appian Way by Ottorino Respighi | 90.400 | 8th Place Division I Finalist |
| 1999 | Tragedy and Triumph Symphony No. 4, Symphony No. 5, Mvt. 2 & Symphony No. 6 All by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky | 91.200 | 8th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2000 | The Masters of Mystique: The Dawn of Modern Music Jeux by Claude Debussy / Petrouchka by Igor Stravinsky / Transfigured Night by Arnold Schoenberg / Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky | 90.650 | 7th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2001 | Virtuoso Finale & Game of Pairs (from Concerto for Orchestra) by Béla Bartók / Festive Overture by Dmitri Shostakovich | 91.900 | 6th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2002 | Heroic Sketches: The Passion of Shostakovich Symphony No. 10, Mvt. 2; Piano Concerto No. 2, Mvt. 2; Piano Concerto No. 2, Mvt. 1 & Symphony No. 7, Mvt. 4 All by Dmitri Shostakovich | 92.400 | 5th Place Division I Finalist (tie) |
| 2003 | Harmonic Journey Sanctus (Canon in D) by Johann Pachelbel / Wild Nights (from Harmonium) by John Adams / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Miklós Rózsa / Ostinato (from Mikrokosmos) by Béla Bartók | 94.750 | 4th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2004 | Apasionada 874 Buenos Aires Hora Cero, La Muerte del Angel, Oblivion, Imagines 676, Adios Nonino & Tres Minutos con la Realidad All by Ástor Piazzolla | 93.575 | 5th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2005 | Rhapsody An American in Paris & Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin | 96.825 | 3rd Place Division I Finalist |
| 2006 | Faust Scythian Suite by Sergei Prokofiev / Ave Maria by Franz Biebl / Piano Concerto by John Corigliano / Symphony No. 2 by Gustav Mahler | 96.850 | 2nd Place Division I Finalist |
| 2007 | On Air Vespertine Formations by Christopher Deane / 1000 Airplanes on the Roof by Philip Glass / Flower Duet (from Lakmé) by Léo Delibes / Suggestion Diabolique by Sergei Prokofiev / Finale (from The Firebird) by Igor Stravinsky | 94.850 | 4th Place Division I Finalist |
| 2008 | Spartacus Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss / Toccata (from Piano Concerto No. 1) by Alberto Ginastera / Dance of Ecstasy (from Danses Fantastiques) by Loris Tjeknavorian / Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian / Battlefield (from Kà) by René Dupéré | 98.125 | 1st Place World Class Champion |
| 2009 | The Red Violin Theme from The Red Violin by John Corigliano / Fantasy Variations on a Theme by Nicolo Paganini by James Barnes / Paganini Variations by Witold Lutoslawski / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Sergei Rachmaninoff / Caprice XXIV by Benny Goodman / Paganini Variations by Philip Wilby | 89.900 | 9th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2010 | Into the Light The New Moon in the Old Moon's Arms by Michael Kamen | 93.150 | 6th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2011 | Juliet East of Eden by Lee Holdridge / Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi / Lacrimosa dies illa & Confutatis maledictis (from Requiem) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet by Nino Rota / Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev / Elsa's Procession to the Cathedral (from Lohengrin) by Richard Wagner | 95.050 | 5th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2012 | Turandot Popolo di Pechino!; Indietro, cani; Gira la cote!... Perche tarda la luna?; O mondo, o mondo... O tigre, o tigre!; Gravi, enormi ed imponenti; Gloria, gloria; Tre enigmi m'hai & Nessun dorma! All from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini | 96.550 | 3rd Place World Class Finalist |
| 2013 | Triumphant Journey Music from Elizabeth: The Golden Age by A. R. Rahman & Craig Armstrong / Cape Fear by Bernard Herrmann / Four Sea Interludes by Benjamin Britten / Enigma Variations: Nimrod by Edward Elgar / Symphony No. 11 by Dmitri Shostakovich | 93.250 | 6th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2014 | Swan Lake Swan Lake by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky / La Péri by Paul Dukas / Dracula (Act III) by Philip Feeny / A Fateful Meeting, Beauty Killed the Beast, & Tooth and Claw (from King Kong) by James Newton Howard / Mother and Child (from Flightplan) by James Horner | 91.425 | 7th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2015 | City of Light I Love Paris by Cole Porter / Horoscope by Constant Lambert / Claire de Lune by Claude Debussy / Piano Concerto in C♯ Minor by Francis Poulenc / An American in Paris by George Gershwin / Symphony No. 3 (Organ Symphony) by Camille Saint-Saens | 90.325 | 7th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2016 | Voice of Promise Preludes for Piano Op. 34, No. 14 by Dmitri Shostakovich / The Chairman Dances by John Adams / Ave Verum Corpus by Colin Mawby / The Darkest Moment by Rob Ferguson & Bret Kuhn / Hymne Des Fraternises: I'm Dreaming of Home by Phillipe Rombi / Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra by Benjamin Britten | 89.963 | 8th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2017 | Phantasm Finlandia by Jean Sibelius / Symphony No. 12 by Dmitri Shostakovich / Entering the Nightmare (from Dreamscape) by Maurice Jarre / Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff / Symphony No. 3 by Aram Khachaturian | 88.125 | 9th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2018 | This New World Finale (from Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium) by Aaron Zigman & Alexandre Desplat / Piano Concerto No. 3 by Sergei Prokofiev / A Child's Garden of Dreams by David Maslanka / Picture Studies by Adam Schoenberg / New World Symphony by Antonín Dvořák | 86.950 | 11th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2019 | I Am Joan Carmina Burana by Carl Orff / Audivi Media Nocte by Oliver Waespi / Zohar by Jonathan Leshnoff / Fire of Eternal Glory & Lady McBeth of Mtsensk by Dmitri Shostakovich / Vox Populi by Jared Leto (30 Seconds to Mars) / Unleashed by Thomas Bergersen (Two Steps from Hell) | 87.238 | 12th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2020 | Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic | Season canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | Harmonic Journey Sanctus (Canon in D) by Johann Pachelbel / Wild Nights (from Harmonium) by John Adams / The Lord's Prayer (from King of Kings) by Miklós Rózsa / Ostinato (from Mikrokosmos) by Béla Bartók | No scored competitions | No scored competitions |
| 2022 | No Walk Too Far Before Time by Thomas Bergersen / Godspeed! & The Chosen by Stephen Melillo / Eli's Theme (from Let the Right One In) by Johan Söderqvist / Symphony No. 5 by Gustav Mahler | 90.675 | 8th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2023 | Exogenesis The 2nd Law: Isolated System & Supremacy by Muse / As If A Voice Were In Them by Oliver Waespi / to wALk Or ruN in wEst harlem by Andy Akiho / Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninoff / For I Have Fought the Good Fight by Stephen Melillo | 92.988 | 7th Place World Class Finalist |
| 2024 | Mynd Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven / Surfacing by Dave Hall / Equilibrium by Paul Lovatt-Cooper / Fly or Die by Gilles Rocha / Pillar 3 by Andy Akiho | 95.225 | 4th Place World Class Finalist |
* ↑ In 1990, Phantom Regiment and the Blue Devils tied for 4th place.
* ↑ In 1996, Phantom Regiment and the Blue Devils tied for 1st place.
* ↑ In 2002, Phantom Regiment and the Boston Crusaders tied for 5th place.

## Caption awards

At the annual World Championship Finals, Drum Corps International (DCI) presents awards to the corps with the high average scores from prelims, semifinals, and finals in five captions. Phantom Regiment has won these caption awards.
Don Angelica Best General Effect Award
* 2008
Fred Sanford Best Percussion Performance Award
* 2006, 2008, 2010
Prior to 2000 and the adoption of the current scoring format, Phantom Regiment won these captions:
High General Effect Award
* 1991 (tie), 1996
High Visual Award
* 1979, 1980, 1989, 1990 (tie)
High Color Guard Award
* 1977, 1979, 1988
High Brass Award
* 1978, 1989, 1996