After claiming the top $20,000 prize March 17, 2025, at one of the nation’s preeminent piano competitions, Jonathan Mamora boarded a flight with other contestants, headed for Fort Worth, Texas. They would contend for a berth in the renowned Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, one of the world’s largest and most prestigious piano performance contests.

On April 9, Mamora landed among the final field of 30 pianists selected for the Van Cliburn. The extensive selection process began in October 2024 with 340 pianists from 45 countries. Competition performances took place from May 21 to June 7 in Texas, just weeks before Mamora and his wife, Stephanie, were set to embark on a new chapter in their lives. Effective July 1, Jonathan will begin his new role as an assistant professor of music and director of keyboard studies at La Sierra University’s Department of Music. 

Mamora, a 2017 graduate of La Sierra’s music program and a Loma Linda native, is returning to his alma mater from Southwestern Adventist University, where he began teaching last fall. A phone call from La Sierra University president Christon Arthur at the end of January served as an impetus for Mamora to consider a move back to Riverside.

“I told him that I had heard about him from many faculty, staff, and community members and asked if he would consider coming home,” said Arthur. 

“We are deeply honored that Jonathan is returning home to his alma mater to teach and mentor our music students,” Arthur continued. “His achievements on the world stage, his professional standing as an award-winning concert pianist and as a dedicated music educator are indicative of his commitment to his God-given calling. He will serve as a valued educator who guides and supports his students and as an inspiration to all of us.”

For Jonathan, the idea of teaching at La Sierra represented not only a return to California after eight years on the East Coast, but also a reunion with the university family and music faculty who nurtured his abilities and confidence as a student.  These include his teacher and mentor Elvin Rodriguez, former music department chair and piano professor who taught Mamora between ages 12 and 22, as well as former keyboard studies professor Kimo Smith. 

“I very much appreciated that President Arthur had taken time out of his day to call and express that he would like me to come back to La Sierra and teach there,” Mamora said, noting that a major attraction was the prospect of serving in the footsteps of Rodriguez, who not only honed Mamora’s professional development, but his growth as a values-based individual. Mamora said he hopes to build upon and grow such a legacy “of being able to cultivate excellent students and musicians.”

Passing the torch Mamora’s March 17 win at the 27th Hilton Head International Piano Competition marked the latest of 23 competitions he has entered since 2022. He has won first-place , at the Scottish International Piano Competition, the Concurs Internacional de Música Maria Canals Barcelona, the Dallas International Piano Competition, and the Palm Springs International Piano Competition. 

In between contests, he pursued graduate studies and maintained a performance schedule on major stages, public venues, and with top orchestras in France, Spain, Scotland, Portugal, New York, New Mexico, Florida, and elsewhere. His musical expressiveness and skill have been lauded in publications such as The Dallas Morning News, which described his playing as “poetic” and “most assured pianism,” with “natural, songful lyricism,” and “rippl[ing] through virtuosic passagework.”

Mamora brings his extensive skill and performance abilities to the classroom and studio, where he hopes to incorporate what he has learned from his own professors, including the renowned Hung-Kuan Chen at The Juilliard School from which Mamora earned a master’s degree, and Douglas Humpherys at the Eastman School of Music, where he is a doctoral candidate. 

“They both have the track record of students. Their pedagogy is very discerning, very demanding, but it's also what made them great teachers and great pianists when they were full-time pianists,” Mamora said. 

But his first and most holistically influential teacher was La Sierra’s Rodriguez. 

“He is a model for not just how [to] teach, but I think how one can be as a person as well,” Mamora said. “That was such a big part of why he always was able to bring students [to the university] because he lived his truth and his character and his values every day. And so, students, every one of us in that department, looked up to him as the ultimate example.”

“And so, I'm taking everything from all of them, really, and I've been able to figure out what works for me [while] recognizing that each student is different. I have the benefit of having different perspectives in the last 18-20 years,” Mamora said, adding that he will offer his students the mentorship and instruction that he received. 

“I aim to provide for the students at La Sierra, and for anyone who is wanting to come to La Sierra, a teacher that is not just able to teach well, but also [can] demonstrate directly how that teaching can manifest itself in the practice [of] music and a musical career,” he said.

Mamora began performing at La Sierra University long before he enrolled as a student. He gave his first public performance at age 13 at the university, playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Piano Concerto No. 3.” The formidable “Piano Concerto No. 3” by Sergei Rachmaninoff, which Mamora performed for the Hilton Head competition, was one he had first played as an 18-year-old freshman at the university.

Mamora has also served as a church musician most of his life, has taught piano and music theory at various institutions, and often performs as a collaborative artist with other musicians.

“We are excited beyond words that Jonathan has accepted to be our new director of keyboard studies at La Sierra University,” said choral studies director and Department of Music chair Ariel Quintana. “Jonathan’s piano career skyrocketed since he graduated, and we couldn’t be more proud of his trajectory. 

“We, all faculty, had the pleasure to have Jonathan as a student in one capacity or another and we all agree that there couldn’t be a better fit to fill this position,” Quintana said. “When his teacher Elvin Rodriguez retired, we immediately felt the need to find someone to fill the now empty shoes that he was leaving in our department. We are so happy to see Maestro Elvin Rodriguez passing off the torch to his protégé Jonathan Mamora. I could not find someone that we are more proud of having come home and be part of our faculty. Welcome back, Jonathan.” 

— Darla Martin Tucker is the Chief Public Relations Officer at La Sierra University.