La Sierra’s 78th Candlelight Concert to feature singalongs, pianist Mamora

The concert will be held at 7 p.m. at the La Sierra University Church. Admission is free.

The Candlelight Concert will include performances by La Sierra’s choirs, orchestra and brass ensembles, and include a carol sing-along. Mamora, who arrived this fall to serve as director of keyboard studies, will serve as featured artist.

Mamora earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the university in 2017. He spent the next several years earning graduate degrees and performing and competing in piano events around the world. He has participated in 24 major competitive events between 2022 and 2025 and winning 11 first place awards. Earlier this year, he won the 27th Hilton Head International Piano Competition and competed in the world-renowned Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas.

His performance schedule has brought him to the world’s major stages and with top orchestras in France, Spain, Scotland, Portugal, New York, New Mexico, Florida and elsewhere around the nation and the world. His musical skill has been lauded in such publications as The Dallas Morning News which described his playing as “poetic” and “most assured pianism,” “natural, songful lyricism,” and “rippl[ing] through virtuosic passagework.”

Mamora, a native of Loma Linda, began taking piano lessons at age 13 from former La Sierra University music professor Elvin Rodriguez and studied with him for the next 10 years. 

Mamora began his teaching career last year at Southwestern Adventist University and returned to La Sierra University this year. He holds a master’s degree from The Juilliard School and is a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music.

The La Sierra University Church is located at 4937 Sierra Vista Ave, Riverside. For further information contact [email protected] or call 951-785-2036.