Managing a Drum Corps requires a very unique skill set and a clear understanding of how all the pieces interlock. Numerous tasks and responsibilities must be carefully balanced for an organization to run efficiently. Blaise Castaldo epitomizes the ideal manager because he’s done all the jobs. He has the “right stuff”.
His considerable performance experience began in ‘67 as a French Horn in the Envoys, progressing 2 years later to the Celtic Cadets. In ’70, he took up the mellophone for 15 seasons with the Caballeros, with some moonlighting from ’80 to ’82 with the Criterions. From ’94 to ’97 he marched with the Cabs Alumni.
Blaise sharpened his marching and color guard instructional chops with the Envoys, Kingston Indians, Criterions and Capital Brass, as Visual Caption Head for the Caballeros in 2005, and he is entering his 53rd year with that organization. During that time he also adjudicated for the MAA-EMBA and USSBA circuits.
He has been Co-Director of the Kingston Indians, Business Manager of the Criterions, and on the management team of the Persuasion Color Guard. All of this was prelude to his tenure as Operation Manager from 2010 to 2023 for the Hawthorne Caballeros. Honored with Associate Membership in the WDCHOF in ’02, inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame in ’13, a player, instructor, judge, and administrator, Blaise Castaldo has checked all the boxes.