John Polhamus, Bass John Polhamus grew up in Pacific Beach when it was mostly lemon groves, slowly turning into pavement – and he still calls Pacific Beach home. “I am very parochial regarding San Diego…making music here is more important to me than making music anywhere else, even if it means I’m not making headlines, “ he says. My earliest memory of music is my mother’s singing and hearing Bach played at St. Brigid’s. My dad would hold me on his shoulder so that I could look backwards at the choir-loft to see the organist. Later, one of my favorite music memories occurred when I was a 20-year-old San Diego Opera chorister and heard Dame Joan Sutherland sing Verdi’s “Carlo vive” – that’s when I really came to know what the heroism of the performer was really all about. John has founded two music organizations during his varied career, the Tomás Luis de Victoria Choir (first professional polyphonic vocal ensemble in San Diego) and the Chorus Breviari, a Gregorian Chant Study and Liturgical Group. Valerie Scher, Arts and Entertainment Editor at San Diego New Network (SDNN), recently described his performance of Handel’s Theodora, “Bass John Polhamus, a native San Diegan, brought expressive fervor to the role of Valens, the Roman villain.”