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Heading West, Heading Home

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Matthew Irish
Washington, D.C. --  WASHINGTON, D.C. - One of the perks of presenting concerts across the country is meeting friends and family who live near our tour destinations.  For Capt. Joseph Hansen and Technical Sgt. David Balandrin, both natives of Salt Lake City, heading west means heading home.   And they both will do exactly that during the Concert Band and Singing Sergeants' upcoming 12-day tour, which also includes stops in Nevada and California.

"I'm really looking forward to returning to my hometown of Salt Lake City," says Balandrin. "I grew up there and went to college there. It's definitely a special place for me." As an added bonus, Balandrin will have the privilege of performing as a soloist on this tour. He will be the featured Concert Band soloist on three tour concerts as he performs the first movement of the Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat major, Op. 11 by Richard Strauss. "I first heard the Strauss concerto when I was a young student in Utah. I've always associated the music's beauty with the majesty of the Wasatch Mountains. I feel very fortunate to be able to perform this great music for my friends and family in Utah." On the experience of being the star attraction, Balandrin noted that "It's quite a transition moving from the back row of the band in the horn section to the front of the stage, but I'm ready for the challenge."

The Concert Band will perform at two high schools in the Salt Lake City area on Feb. 27 and 28, and will join forces with the Singing Sergeants at Utah State University in Logan, Utah on March 1.

Hansen, the new officer in charge of the Singing Sergeants, also claims Salt Lake City as his birthplace. He will lead the chorus on the first leg of their tour as they offer several performances at the 2015 national conference of the American Choral Directors Association. "Though I spent much of my childhood in Colorado, I was born in Salt Lake City and returned to nearby Provo, Utah, for undergraduate studies at Brigham Young University," says Hansen. "Many of my extended family members call Salt Lake City home, so it will be great to reunite with them while on the tour."

The Singing Sergeants will also have the rare opportunity to perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir before an expected audience of more than 20,000 people.

For complete details about this upcoming tour and information about how to obtain tickets for each concert, click here.