Born in Baltimore, Maryland, and raised in Oakville, Ontario, Capt Dan Moses caught the conducting bug while in high school. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces Primary Reserve while at university in 1986, as a horn-player in the 438 Air Reserve Squadron in Montreal. It was intended to be a summer job, but has led to a rewarding part-time career. After graduating from McGill in 1990, Dan moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to be principal horn of the Newfoundland Symphony, and transferred to the Band of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a unit with a venerated battle history.
After three years, it was time to check out the other coast of the country, so he transferred to the Band of the 15th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, in Vancouver. He travelled to Hawai’i, San Diego, New Orleans and Palm Springs with 15th Field Band, but it was Canadian Forces School of Music, at CFB Borden, Ontario, which beckoned. He worked there for a year and a half, as horn instructor and storesman, before going back to McGill to study sound recording and a brief membership in the la Musique de la 34e Groupe-brigade du Canada. In 1999, he made his way to Victoria and transferred to the Band of the 5th. He released in 2011, but re-enrolled in 2017, to fill a vacancy as Director of Music.
In real life, Capt Moses has been a member of the horn section of the Victoria Symphony for 24 years and manages his household with his wife, Mary Ann, and two kids, aged 12 and 8.