Former resident to return, perform in classical concert series
By Eliav Appelbaum eliav@theacorn.com

Lincoln Mayorga

Lincoln Mayorga hasn't slowed down one bit.

The pianist, arranger and conductor will perform in Camarillo for the first time in more than 10 years and will play a solo concert on piano at Mount Cross Lutheran Church on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Mayorga, who remains busy writing, performing and recording music at 70, is excited about opening the second season of the Mount Cross Classical Concert Series.

"I'm very fond of Camarillo," said Mayorga, who lived in town for 18 years, from 1971 to 1989.

"When I moved there, there were only a couple thousand people and lots and lots of citrus groves."

Mayorga will share his appreciation of Camarillo by performing a piece called "Camarillo Improvisation on a Phone Number."

The pianist, who has worked with Johnny Mathis, Phil Ochs, Frank Zappa and Quincy Jones, among others, will take phone numbers from members of the audience and assign those numbers to keys on the piano. He will use the phone numbers and improvise a piece on the spot.

Mayorga, who lives in Chatham, N.Y., found inspiration for the style of improvisation from Alec Templeton, a famous blind concert pianist who had his own radio show for six years in the 1930s and 1940s.

"He was on the radio a lot; in those days it was network radio," Mayorga said.

"He'd play a lot of music and do funny imitations. He'd imitate opera singers, singing the voices for the males and females. One of the things he did was to improvise easily. He'd make up a piece on somebody's name or on a phone number or the name of a composer."

Mayorga started improvising on a phone number around 1990, and "Camarillo Improvisation" will also be a way for Camarillo residents to become directly involved with the music.

For the first half of Sunday's program, Mayorga will concentrate on shorter songs before closing on a challenging big piece called "Wanderer Fantasy" by Franz Schubert.

"Musicians would say it's a thorny piece," Mayorga said. "Schubert wrote the piece as a depiction of the struggles of life- and he decided to make it tough on the pianist. Playing it would have to be a struggle. There's a story of him playing it in a public concert and he broke down towards the end. He stood up and said, 'Let the devil himself play it!' And he stormed off the stage." The New York resident will also perform Beethoven's "Fur Elise," and a diverse selection of material, including pieces from Edvard Grieg and George Gershwin.

Barbara D'Addario, a member of the church who helped lure Mayorga to Camarillo for this concert, is delighted that Mayorga was able to perform.

"I knew he'd be a big draw, but I wasn't sure if I'd get him," said D'Addario, who is in charge of the Mount Cross Classical Series. "The whole purpose of the series is to try to make it like a community outreach. There's very little classical music in Camarillo. You have to go to Thousand Oaks or Los Angeles or Santa Barbara."

Mayorga, who visits Camarillo "several times a year," was expected to arrive in California on Thursday and practice in the church the day before the concert.

He's looking forward to catching up with Sofia Cosma, 92, a musician who Mayorga helped defect from Romania in 1980.

Mayorga, who also enjoys swimming and hiking, has been busy performing with his wife, Sheri, on a piece they've called "200 Years of American Music."

In 1999, the couple adopted two sons from Guatemala, Juan Carlos, 13, and Nicolas, 21, a student at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, N.Y.

"I'm very lucky," Mayorga said. "I have not slowed down. I really enjoy playing for people and producing records and teaching."

The church is at 102 Camino Esplendido. Minimum donation at the door is $15, although it costs $40 for the entire season series. For more information, call (805) 484-2054.