The Syracuse University Marching Band has officially been invited to perform at next year’s London New Year’s Day Parade and Festival.

During a ceremony at the Carrier Dome on Sept. 14, the band was invited to take part in the 31st annual parade, which is scheduled to be held between Dec. 27, 2016 and Jan. 3, 2017 in London. The parade boasts a worldwide TV audience of more than 300 million viewers and about two-thirds of a million people attend the parade, according to an SU News release.

The SUMB was first recommended for the nomination by a band that performed in a past parade, and thus began the process. The organizers of the parade and festival researched the SUMB by watching videos and investigating their numerous social media outlets.

Finally, SUMB director Justin Mertz received a call this summer. The parade committee liked what they had seen of SUMB’s performances, and extended the invitation to perform in London to Mertz and the rest of the band.

Though the offer was made in the summer, it was not made official until last week, when the Lord Mayor of England, Catherine Longworth, visited the university. She presented Mertz with a framed recognition of invitation and extended a formal offer to host the band at next year’s parade.

Mertz said he is extremely honored by the invitation, but he is not yet sure if the band will be able to make the trip.

“It’s a little too soon to tell right now,” he said. “We are still in the process of investigating what it will cost and how many students we will be able to bring.”

Mertz said the directors of the SUMB would like to bring the entire band, which currently has about 200 members, but he would be open to bringing a smaller, select number of band members if the trip proves too costly.

He added that the biggest invitation the marching band has received up until this invitation was in 2013 when the band performed pregame for Super Bowl XLVIII.

Director of University Bands Bradley Ethington discussed how important this particular invitation is for not only the marching band, but the university as a whole.

“Any time the marching band travels, we serve as ambassadors for the university,” said Ethington, who is also a professor of applied music and performance at the Setnor School of Music. “And this would be an extremely high-profile trip to do just that.”

Mertz and Ethington said preparing for the parade would be similar to that of any other SUMB performance.

Mertz said the “hard work and sweat equity” of learning the music and making sure it sounds good is ultimately the best mode of preparation for the band.

Ethington added that the band is no stranger to this kind of preparation.

“There are a lot of moving parts,” Ethington said. “But we travel a lot, and we’re very good at making sure our train runs on time.”

Although it is unclear whether the performance will materialize or not, for Mertz and Ethington, the invitation alone is a statement.

Mertz agreed and said it’s all about making sure the band looks good and acts as the best musical ambassadors they can be.

If the performance happens, Mertz is ready to put on a show.

“We’re going to approach it like any other performance that we have,” Mertz said. “We’re going to do it at the highest level, and make sure that we live up to our name: The Pride of the Orange.”

Published on September 22, 2015 at 9:52 pm

Contact Matt: mjfel100@syr.edu