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The Jazz Collective (Lincoln’s top jazz ensemble) earned numerous awards including 1st place finishes at The Morningside Jazz Festival, The Augustana Jazz Festival, and the Coyote Jazz Festival (USD). In addition, the ensemble finished in 1st at one of the largest jazz festivals in the Midwest, The Coe College Jazz Summit (Cedar Rapids, IA) and were crowned the 2024 Basically Basie Champions and 2025 Basically Basie Runner-ups in Kansas City. Finally, the ensemble performed at the 2024 South Dakota Bandmasters Conference in Brookings, South Dakota alongside guest artist Marques Carroll.

 

Under his direction at West Lyon, the Marching Band, Jazz Band, and Symphonic Bands earned consistent division I ratings at their respective IHSMA State Events. During Balta’s tenure, the “Wildcat” Marching Band has earned numerous 1st place finishes accompanied by some major highlights, including but not limited to, a four-time finalist at the Festival of Bands in Sioux Falls, a 5th place overall finish at the 2019 F.O.B., and Grand Champion regardless of class at the 2019 Dutchmen Field Championships; the top jazz ensemble qualified for the Iowa Jazz Championships in six consecutive years, featuring a state championship in 2022 and runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2017; 100 percent of high school students participate in the IHSMA state solo and ensemble contest; the top concert band was selected to perform at the 2020 and 2021 Iowa Bandmasters Association Conferences as the guest 2A honor band; and the number of band participants in grades 5-12 continued to grow reaching as high as 37% of the total enrollment in 2021.

 

In addition to his teaching duties at West Lyon, Mr. Balta served as the Northwest Iowa Honor Band Chair and district representative and state chair of the IBA Marching Band Affairs Committee. In 2017 he was named the NWIBA Martin Crandell Award recipient for outstanding High School Educator. In 2022, Balta was accepted to present on building a successful band culture at the Iowa Bandmasters Conference and in 2023, was asked to present at the South Dakota Bandmasters Symposium. Balta is an avid leadership consultant in the tri-state area giving leadership clinics to more than ten schools during the summer of 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

 

Mr. Balta is originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa and attended Cedar Rapids Prairie High School under the direction of Mr. Craig Aune.  He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Secondary Music with an emphasis in trumpet performance from William Penn University. While at William Penn, Balta served as the Marching and Maneuvering Instructor for the Prairie “Hawk” Marching Band and taught under Jason Pentico at Pella High School and Bruce Peiffer and Carolyn Brickley at North Mahaska. He studied trumpet with Mr. Dick Redman. In the summer of 2022, Balta graduated with his Masters of Music Education degree from the University of Florida.

 

In his spare time, Mr. Balta enjoys watching Cubs baseball and Hawkeye basketball and football while spending every minute possible with his wife Amanda and daughters Wrigley and Lennyn. In addition, Mr. Balta is an assistant baseball coach at West Lyon.