Mr. Baltzer is in his second year as the Director of Bands at Providence Catholic High School. Mr. Baltzer received his Bachelor's of Music Education Degree from the University of Illinois. During his time at Illinois he performed in a variety of ensembles including the Marching Illini, Illinois Wind Symphony, and more. Mr. Baltzer was a section leader for three years in the Marching Illini and principal tubist in the Wind Symphony for one year. Being a member of both ensembles afforded him the opportunity to travel to several destinations including San Francisco, Houston, and more. In 2018, Mr. Baltzer earned his Master's of Music Education Degree from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where he studied under Dr. Andrew Trachsel, Dr. Richard Suk, and Dr. Matthew Talbert. While at Ohio University, Mr. Baltzer performed with Wind Symphony, traveled to New York City to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, performed at Carnegie Hall, and traveled to Alabama and the Bahamas for football bowl games.
The PCHS Band program is a widely recognized program throughout the State of Illinois. 2019 was a record breaking year for the program with 5 regional Class 1A Championships and 2nd place at the State Marching Championships. The PCHS Concert Band program has been awarded many accolades over the past five years as well including the Leo Henning Most Improved Program Award at the State of the Art Catholic Band Competition in 2020.
Prior to coming to Providence Catholic, Mr. Baltzer was the band director at Notre Dame College Prep in Niles, IL from 2018-2022 where his ensembles consistently earned Superior ratings at each contest. He also grew the music program, expanded upon the music course curriculum to add addition classes to include Percussion Ensemble, Music Technology I and II, and Introduction to Music, and grew the jazz program to tour around the Chicagoland area. Before his tenure at Notre Dame College Prep, Mr. Baltzer taught at John T. Magee Middle School in Round Lake, IL from 2014-2016 where he oversaw the band and choir programs and aided in recruitment.
Mr. Baltzer lives in Sugar Grove, IL with his wife Tara and two little guys, Brett and Hudson.
Coach Lawrence Ball is the guard director at Providence Catholic High School. He was involved with his original marching band and concert band as a trombonist and as a guard member for his winter guard team in high school from 1998-2001. After graduating, he participated in Winter Guard International (WGI) with Alliance of Miami based in Miami, Florida from 2002-2003, placing in finals each year at world championships. He also was involved with Tampa Bay Thunder Drum Corp through Drum Corps Associates (DCA) in 2011 when they placed in finals in that year, and the Racine Kilties Drum Corp from 2017 during their exhibition season. In addition to his high school credentials, he also participated with the Broward Symphonic Orchestra in 2002, based in Fort Lauderdale, FL as 3rd chair trombonist.
Coach Ball has 18+ years of coaching experience, by creating new units for competing schools, or bringing existing units to compete at higher levels. Under his guidance, he helped the guard program grow as a whole to attain several placement awards at several different marching band and winter guard shows. Coach Ball oversaw the guard during the marching band's successful run of seasons of placing 2nd in class 2A for both 2019 and 2021 seasons, and 1st in class 1A in the 2020 season. During the winter guard seasons, he helped the program get a 3rd place medal in the 2016 SRA-Red Division through MidWest Color Guard Circuit (MWCGC), and accomplished being seeded 3rd place in the Lindstrom SRA division in 2020 prior to the season being canceled in March 15 due to COVID-19, oversaw the program get their first gold medal in 2021, after a 14 year drought, in the SRA virtual competition through the MWCGC. In 2023, the program started their first national recognition in making finals and placing 7th overall in the WGI Virtual Ensemble competition.
Coach Ball currently lives in DuPage County with his wife Stephanie and his little boy Jonathan.
If interested in participating with the guard program at Providence, he can be reached at lball@providencecatholic.org for more information.
Bio coming soon!
Matt Kochniarczyk - Percussion
Bio coming soon!
Dakota Smith - Colorguard
Bio coming soon!
Anthony Bartucci - Woodwind
Bio coming soon!
Anna Bruno - Colorguard
Bio coming soon!