By Jolene FarleyRobert Hanson, a 1964 graduate of Hills High School, is conducting the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Orchestra in concerts around the area. He is the son of Jean Hanson and the late Roy Hanson. Jean now lives in Sioux Falls, S.D.Hanson has a 30-year career as the music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in Elgin, Ill. This is his third time as a guest conductor in the area. He conducted the South Dakota Symphony last year and before that the Sioux Empire Youth Symphony.In late April, he will be inducted into the Fox Valley Arts Hall of Fame. He is a former music professor at Elgin Community College. He founded the Elgin Area Youth Orchestra, the Elgin Community College Conservatory and the Institute for the Performing Arts.After graduating from Hills, Hanson attended Augustana College for two years while playing in the Municipal Band and playing music in church in Hills.He attended the University of Minnesota and later joined the army.He taught public school near Chicago for three years before he went back to college and earned a doctorate in music from Northwestern University.Remember when …Hanson said being the guest conductor of the South Dakota Symphony Chamber Orchestra is special to him."I get to come home and stay with my mom, see my relatives and see old friends," Hanson said. His mother, Jean, now lives in Sioux Falls.Hanson drove through Hills on his way to Sioux Falls this time. "I just took a jaunt, went through the old neighborhood. It’s very nostalgic."Hanson’s grandfather used to own the Hills Crescent so many of his childhood memories are centered on this publication. As a youth, he worked in the office handsetting type, working with the press and other jobs."So many of my memories are very family orientated," he said. "The church was very important, a very important part of my musical upbringing."He remembers Hills band instructor Earl Colgon as a positive influence on his musical education. Colgon pulled the band together with "amazing results," according to Hanson.Hanson said he is grateful for growing up in a small town. "Everything was so safe, we had the run of the town, our parents never worried," he said.Musical backgroundBoth of Hanson’s parents played musical instruments and there may have been some professional musicians further back in the family tree, according to Hanson. Hanson’s interest in music started when he was very young. He began taking piano lessons from a minister’s wife. "I think I started when I was four or five," he said. "I never really considered anything else as a career." "Music was just something I always did … When the favorite thing you do is your work, you’re incredibly lucky," he said."The whole town of Hills was so incredibly supportive of any talent that came through the town. It was a very nurturing environment to grow up in." "You felt encouraged to go on, dream and reach your goals."Writing musicHanson has written music since he was a child. In addition to his job as music director, he composes music on commission and is paid for his passion.Sometimes it is easy to write music, sometimes it isn’t, according to Hanson."Usually you just need a kernel of three or four notes to get yourself going," he said. He was recently commissioned to put a 94-year-old poet’s work to music."The words were very musical to me … so the notes just sort of flowed out," he said. "Very few composer’s compositions are divinely formulated from heaven. Writing a piece of music is work. … You don’t know if your music is going to last, you do the best that you can, you write for the specific occasion."Hanson and the orchestra will perform at 7 p.m. Friday, April 2, at the Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls,Hanson and his wife, Linda, have three daughters and three grandchildren. They live in Highland Park, Ill.
