For the Reporter

The Seattle Cascades, one of the oldest and most honored drum corps in the Pacific Northwest, sponsors the Seattle Summer Music Games at 7 p.m. Friday, July 1, at Auburn Memorial Stadium, 801 Fourth St. NE.

The competition features six of the West Coast’s top drum corps, including the six-time world champion Santa Clara Vanguard. Also entertaining the crowd will be Sound Wave, the Sounders’ popular music organization.

The Cascades will debut its 2016 production, “O”. Befitting the title, the performing arts organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary with music that includes the up-tempo gallop of “Apollo Unleashed” from Symphony No. 2 by USC professor/composer Frank Ticheli. The darker and brooding “The Moment I Said It” follows, which is from the 2005 album, “Speak for Yourself”, by the visionary British pop singer/songwriter Imogen Heap.

The show concludes with the mesmerizing “Orawa,” originally written for string orchestra by the Polish composer Wojciech Kilar. He is best known to American audiences for his film music that includes soundtracks for Francis Ford Coppola’s “Dracula” and Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist.”

The corps’ show in Auburn is part of an 8,600-mile journey throughout the country that includes 20 competitions and performances in 16 states, culminating at the Drum Corps International World Championships in Indianapolis on Aug. 9-13.

A majority of corps members hail from Northwest high schools and colleges, several other states and Canada. They attend rehearsals throughout the winter months, concluding with an intensive three-week spring training program before embarking on the six-week annual tour. Local members include Payton Schmidt and Zane Austin from Bellevue.

Tickets are $20-$40 and may be purchased in advance at www.seattlecascades.org or at the stadium beginning at 5:30 p.m. Will call opens at 4 p.m.