Idyllwild Master Chorale is back after a two-year hiatus
This weekend, December 17 and 18, Dwight “Buzz” Holmes and the Idyllwild Master Chorale (IMC) bring back one of Idyllwild’s beloved and venerable traditions, the winter concert, this year titled “I Remember Christmas.” The title is taken from one of Holmes’ own compositions and is especially meaningful this season, as the activities of the group, like much else on Earth, resume after being interrupted by the recent pandemic.
Holmes gave a brief retelling of his own story and that of his father, Robert Evans Holmes, who founded IMC in 1975. “He was classically trained but he was part of a quartet in Ohio that won the state championship, and all got scholarships to go to a private college in Westerville. That was in the depths of the Great Depression. That kind of support for the arts allowed him to follow that path. He was the only one of four brothers that went to college. From there he went to Interlochen in the late ’30s. He came to California at the end of WWII, taught at Hollywood High for 15 years, another 15 at Beverly Hills High. He was a leader in chorale music and music education in the West and the U.S. He had an incredible knack for bringing people together, that’s what conductors do.
“My career was different; I started out in instrumental music, playing cello, but broke my wrist and fourth finger. I started singing, choral music and shows. I was lead singer in a group called Generation. I directed the first stage version of the rock opera ‘Tommy.’ When I was working on the scene in LA I got a call from ISOMATA (Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts), when it was part of USC. I became the associate director of USC Idyllwild. I worked with the transition to IAA (Idyllwild Arts Academy.) I was Hemet USD music coordinator from 2005 until I retired about 2016.”
In Idyllwild, Holmes also helped his father prepare IMC members for performances, making the eventual passing of the baton in 1986 a natural development.
IMC’s first performance in 1975 featured Saint Saen’s “Christmas Oratorio.” In following years, it began to present Handel’s “Messiah” with a full orchestra. Each year this paper would report the growing number of participants, with the combined instrumental and vocal forces soon numbering close to 200. “Messiah” was set aside for more varied holiday fare in 1997. Concert goers began to expect the winter concert to include a section in which the orchestra and choir joined forces with a jazz ensemble and soloists. Then came COVID. Buzz told the Crier about his own experience and the difficult choices he faced.
“In 2020, right when I started work on the spring concert, I did one rehearsal and there was an incident that happened up in Mount Vernon, Washington, with a community choir. They had 60 members, it was raining outside, they were all in this enclosed space, nobody was wearing masks. Of 60 singers, 40 got sick, three died of COVID. So, I suspended the spring concert. Of course, the next years, ’20 and ’21, we still had to suspend it. To be honest, to be taking these steps just to get back has been quite an adventure in itself. I had to do what the other adult choirs were doing in SoCal: mandatory masks, vaccination or proof of (negative) tests, the kind of scrutiny unimaginable before the pandemic. I had to do that because of the health and liability of the organization.”
With the suspension of normal rehearsals, the natural “erosion” of membership took its toll. Singers moved or died, and there could be no recruitment. The ensemble is now a smaller, but perhaps tighter group. About this year’s IMC, Holmes said, “We’re very excited about what it is that we’re doing. The numbers are reduced because a lot has happened over the last few years. We have four tenors, three basses, six sopranos, six altos; a chamber choir. I wanted to start conservatively. Usually we go with an orchestra. This year is going to be with just piano, because of the intimacy of the music; more of a madrigal/chamber singer event. Singing has such a fantastic human quality … when you hear this group it pulls at your soul.”
Holmes looks forward to expanding the ensemble (he is recruiting). Bringing back the orchestra and jazz ensemble also are on the horizon — maybe this spring — but for now he is working with his core ensemble. “The main thing is we wanted to put a concert together that would be significant and bring people back together, The support has been tremendous. I had a FaceBook thing for my birthday, to support the Master Chorale; it had a goal of $2,500; we’ve passed that.” The money goes toward buying literature and honorariums for guest artists. “It’s not a lot of money … but these days just the gas getting here from Escondido and back is kind of nuts.”
Three vocal soloists will supplement IMC this year: “Soprano Linda Wallace from Murrieta, Mezzo Emily Collins, who is associate professor of Music at Mt. San Jacinto Junior College. They’re going to be doing ‘Laudamus Te’ from Vivaldi’s ‘Gloria.’ The other soloist is coming back to Idyllwild. Tenor Eric Bolton, dean of students at Idyllwild Arts. He got introduced to Idyllwild by singing in the Festival Choir. He came back this year, now he’s a fine tenor. As you know, finding a good tenor is a rarity. Edwin Spencer Hansen will accompany at the piano.”
Hansen is another stalwart of Idyllwild music. Accompanists are the essential but often-overlooked members of this kind of group, their skills only appreciated by other musicians who understand the broad and deep knowledge and nerves of steel required by the position. Although now living in Hemet, Hansen was an Idyllwild resident for many years and a longtime part of the choir. “I was in the Master Chorale singing from 2005 on. I started accompanying around 2010 or 11.” His schooling included California Western University (now with Pasadena College, Point Loma Nazarene University.) He worked in a doctor’s office as a music therapist, often with deaf patients (they can feel the vibrations). He studied with Earl Wild, who was previously head of the Piano Department at Julliard, then Daniel Pollack at USC. “I did work with (Dr.) Doug Ashcraft at Idyllwild Arts back when I first came here.”
Asked about his career and the accompanist’s craft he explained, “I learned how to accompany; to sight read well and accompany well you have to let go of certain things, your own ego and your own will as to how things should go. I used to work with people with the San Diego Opera Company, that was in the ’60s or ’70s … I’ve been accompanying for 50 years. I started playing in churches in 1965.”
Hansen attempted retirement in 2002. “In 2004, my nextdoor neighbor on Encino Road told me St. Hugh’s needed an accompanist. I went down there and found most of the music I knew by heart. There was a time, around 2000, when about eight people would show up. The attendance got much better. Before the pandemic they were up to 60 or 70 … I admire that church, how hard they work.”
Eventually he began to plan for retirement again. “I thought that Joy (my wife) and I would move to Northern California to be with family, but Joy passed away suddenly, and I had a fall. My doctor told me I had to get off the Hill. My house was 6,178-foot [elevation], and altitude is not good for the heart. It was fine when I moved in, in my 50s, but later on, I guess 71, it got to me.”
Hansen also gave us a lively portrait of Holmes at work, describing a man Idyllwild knows, but few know as well. “He is a gem, a heart of gold and so much patience. I don’t have that. He seldom gets angry; he may get exasperated from time to time but I may have never seen him angry. He and (wife) Julie are retired. They could have ridden off into the sunset. I thought the IMC was over. But he stuck with it. He is dedicated, devoted to the school and IMC. He knows how chorale music should sound. The things to do, how to pronounce things, vocal techniques, individual and choral. He’s spent his whole life learning good conducting techniques. He has tremendous respect and love for his father, who worked with the Robert Shaw chorale. I can’t think of a more considerate man to work under. I’ve known some tyrants; he is the opposite. He will bend over backward to get the best out of you and make you feel good. If I can continue working for Buzz I will. If I can’t work with him, I’ll retire again!”
Concerts will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Lowman Concert Hall on the Idyllwild Arts campus. Tickets are available online at idyllwildmasterchorale.org. or at the door. Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for children and students.
