Submitted Photo Dan Belzer, a Cando native who is now a professor in the theater department at the University of California at Los Angeles, recently released a Christian praise and worship album called “Living in the Light.”

Cando native Dan Belzer said it was a bit of a challenge to finish the production on his first-ever album of Christian praise and worship songs during the coronavirus pandemic, but “Living in the Light” was finally released this fall.

Belzer wrote all of the songs on the contemporary Christian album, which is available on digital platforms including Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, ReverbNation and others. He said there is quite a variety of styles on the album.

“People say, ‘I needed to hear this now,'” said Belzer, who said he has appreciated all of the positive feedback he has gotten. “If it helps one person get through the day, I feel good about it.”

Even though he wrote the music and started recording the album last fall, before the pandemic, it somehow speaks to people who are living through such difficult times.

Belzer is a professor in the theater department at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also performed extensively as a pianist, singer, and actor and has toured Europe multiple times.

He returns to Cando frequently, where his family still farms, and has worked with the local art council there and directed about 15 plays over the years.

He has performed in church since he was a child and his mother was the director of the choir in the Catholic church he attended as a child. He went from playing the church organ there to eventually becoming the pianist at different Lutheran and Catholic churches in the Los Angeles area.

Since the pandemic hit, he has taken his rehearsals and performances online for a church, as church musicians all over the country have had to do.

Belzer said he has also been teaching his classes and working with students at UCLA online this semester, which has also been a challenge.

Despite all of his varied experiences, recording his own album was also a new experience for him.

He is pleased with the end result.

Kelsey Lee Smith, one of his former students at UCLA, provided vocals on the album, and some of the other performers have worked with him at the churches where he is pianist.

In addition to Belzer and Smith, the album includes performances by Edgar Sandoval on violin, Susanna Cervantes on cello, Lenny Coltun on guitars, Bill von Ravensberg on bass, and Barry Saperstein on drums. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Talley Sherwood at Tritone Recording in Glendale, Calif.

(Prairie Profile is a weekly feature profiling interesting people in our region. We welcome suggestions from our readers. Call Regional Editor Eloise Ogden at 857-1944 or call 1-800-735-3229. You also can send email suggestions to eogden@minotdailynews.com.)