Brown shares music, theater

Dennis Brown, of Sonora, has been playing the piano and singing all his life. Maggie Beck/Union Democrat, copyright 2012

Dennis Brown is an example of that. He has been performing in church since he was a youngster, and continues today on many stages, performing, teaching and leading others as they perform. Music is his lifelong forte, but he is also a talented actor and loves to do both.

One can see by his infectious smile when he plays the piano or talks about performing that his profession is also his passion. He works hard at two regular jobs and many part-time and one-time commitments, all involved with the arts.   

“It’s very busy,” he said of his job as director of music and liturgy at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Sonora, where he is also working with a children’s dramatic performing group.   

He has also worked with the annual Bach Festival in Sonora for many years and helps organize the annual Martin Luther King Jr. birthday celebration, held each January.   

Well known in Sonora for his theatrical performances as well as his musical talent, he actually began his love affair with the foothills when he was invited to take on a role in “Lost Highway” with the Columbia Actors Repertory.   

“I fell in love with the community, but I knew I couldn’t live on music and theater alone,” he said.   

He went to work at Bank of America in Sonora in 1992 and stayed there until a job became available teaching music at Bret Harte High School, where he worked four years, until taking the job at St. Patrick’s in 2002. He had been a music teacher prior to that for about 14 years, mostly in the Central Valley, including three years at Catholic schools in Merced County. He also taught musical theater.    

Over the years, some of his local theatrical roles were in “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Big River,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Blues in the Night,” “Lady Day,” “Shenandoah,” and “I Do! I Do!”   

He has performed with Sierra Repertory Theatre and Mountain Actors Conservatory in addition to CAR.    

In addition to his job at St. Patrick’s, he has been conductor of the Pinecone Singers in Groveland for seven years and works with the Stockton Catholic Diocese.    

Brown was born and raised in Merced, where he often returns to perform.    

He began seriously studying music at age 9, when a woman who played at the local Baptist church was looking for piano students.    

“My mom asked if I would like to do it,” he said, “I said ‘sure,’ and that started it. Mrs. Linten taught me piano and voice, and she was a stern, old-school teacher. She taught me well.”    

He was a soprano until he was 15 and began to develop the baritone voice he has today. He was the choral director’s assistant at Merced High School in his senior year.    

“Those were good years,” he said. “Many people from that program went on to become professional musicians.”    

His senior year in high school was also when he found out he loved drama as much as music. “I took a drama class and really took to it,” he said.    

He went on to major in music at Merced College, attended Stanislaus State for a year, then decided he wanted to go to the city and moved to San Francisco State for two years.    

“I had a very positive experience there,” he said. “The caliber of performing artists who came to our school was amazing.”    

He helped pay his way through school by being a staff accompanist at San Francisco State. “I had some amazing mentors all along the way,” he said.    

Before he graduated, he needed to return to his Merced home to help his mother, and graduated from Stanislaus State College.    

In 1981, he married his wife, Shirley, and began working at Bank of America while she worked on her registered nurse license. They were divorced 12 years later, but had a daughter, Elona, who now lives in Fullerton. She has a degree in theater arts, although she also has a career as a supervisor for Mercury Insurance so she can make a good, constant living, he said.    

Now 57, Brown said he can’t believe he has been able to make his living doing what he would be doing anyway. He is also grateful that he lives in an area where he can drive a few miles and go camping and backpacking in Yosemite National Park, which he describes as one of the most beautiful places in the world.    

He still has some goals. He would like to take some graduate classes, perhaps get some more advanced college degrees. “And I would love to do more theater,” he said. “I really miss working in the theater.”