Porfirio Antonio Mojica of Brea, a professional pianist, educator and conductor, came to Mt. San Antonio College for three reasons: choral activities director Bruce Rogers, enthusiastic and talented students and an opportunity to cultivate musical futures. All students, staff and colleagues call the principal pianist for the college's choral ensembles "Pro," a suitable nickname for the pianist who makes people on stage and in the audience gasp when he swings into solo rifts adeptly mixing harmony, melody and rhythm to create emotionally-charged music.
"Bruce Rogers wants to dispel notions about community college music programs," Mojica asserted. "That's why I like working with him. It's fulfilling musically and I get to see him planting seeds in the kids which allow them to stand on their own. Hopefully they cultivate it and pass to others the gifts of teaching, caring, working hard with a team and bringing out one's personal best."
Mojica and Rogers, an internationally renowned choral conductor who built Mt. SAC's musical programs into a formidable force on national and international stages, have been musical partners since they were high school educators.
Mojica was at Mater Dei High School full-time from September 1989 to November 2000, the first nine years as choral accompanist and the last two as choral director. Rogers was at Upland High School, but already had a reputation admired professional peers and competitors, Mojica said. "We'd cross paths occasionally, but I was stunned when he called me, told me he was starting a master chorale and asked me to join the new Mountainside Master Chorale as pianist. I was on the phone like this," Mojica said, widening his mouth and eyes to show his shock. "I'd heard of him and his reputation, so I said OK."
When Rogers began building the Mt. SAC choral programs, Mojica joined the groups directed Rogers and William McIntosh as principal pianist. Drummer John Bocanegra and bassist Paul Sapra are the two other professional accompanists. Technical support for the college's choral ensembles also includes staff pianist/librarian Kevin Wiley, light designer Kevin Owen, sound technicians Bobby Akinboboye and Jake Robinson and graphic designer Linda Lundgren. Katherine Calkins is the Music Department chairwoman and Jeannie DeVito is department secretary/publicist. Mojica, 46, has been intimately immersed in music for 41 years, starting with formal piano lessons at age 5.
His parents, psychiatrists Pablo and Evangeline Mojica, both played piano. Her takes were virtuoso and his materialized from his ability to skillfully play ear. Unlike his younger brothers Chester and Fred and little sister Rachel, their parents didn't have to nag young Porfirio didn't have to be nagged to practice. He'd lose track of time practicing. He was born in the Philippines. When his parents graduated from the medical school at the University of Santo Tomas, they came to the United States to complete their internship in psychiatry in New York and residency in Nebraska, leaving young Pro with his paternal grandparents. They returned when he was 5, moved the family to Philadelphia a year later and then to Bloomfield Hills, Mich. when he was 7.
He graduated from Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills and entered Michigan State University. Other residents in his co-ed dorm included basketball power-forwards Greg Kelser and Jay Vincent and Earvin "Magic" Johnson's sister Evelyn. Going against Indiana State University and Larry Bird, Magic, Kelser and Vincent helped Michigan State win its first NCAA basketball championship.
Mojica loved Michigan State, but not snow.
"In the winter of 1977, there was a big blizzard and everything was buried," he said, shivering with the memory. "I had to claw my way through the snow to find even the antenna of the car. All the students were outside saying where's my car. When I woke up, I thought it was still night and was going to go back to bed until I looked at my clock."
Winter weary, the entire Mojica family moved to Southern California in the summer of 1978. Acquiescing to parental pressure for him to follow in their medical footsteps, he majored in psychiatry and even got a bachelor degree in psychiatry and social science at UC Irvine.
But he never professionally pursued careers in health or science. Music was his calling and he didn't ignore it, getting heavily involved in the club scene from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and touring Japan three times with a band.
He had initially played piano because of his mother's inspiring playing. As adolescence hit, he played to impress and attract girls. As he grew older, he played to satisfy his soul and to convey spiritually deep convictions. He explored what the composers had in mind when writing notes and lyrics and delved deeper into his own values to infuse his playing with new energy and passion.
He began exploring styles, studying and listening to classical, ragtime, blues, jazz and contemporary music to develop diversity.
One day as a young man, he was playing a Chopin waltz on the piano when someone rang the doorbell.
"There was a man standing at the door saying you might want to check this section because you're playing the wrong note," said Mojica, still dismayed about an ear so astute. "He was walking around the neighborhood when he heard me. I wasn't the type of person to say who are you to come in here and tell me whatever. I said that's interesting. And then I looked it up and discovered I was indeed playing the wrong note."
That man was Norberto Cappone, a neighbor who lived four doors down with his wife Paulina Drake. Both were classical pianists. Mojica took lessons with Cappone for three years.
He learned something different and extra from each of his mentors.
His mother taught him diligence and persistence. Michigan State professor John Shel Richardson improved his technical skills, fine-tuning his fingering, proper placement of notes and phrasing. Cappone took him beyond the text to explore the historical and cultural context, so he could comprehend the composers' motivations and play the piece more passionately with that understanding. Rogers showed him how to bring out the best in students and to have fun while working hard. Mojica's world revolves around music.
He met his wife, Julie, a soprano, when she was singing a Bach aria and found his soul mate. His cat is Magnificat, named for the Mozart composition he played with the All American Boys Choir at Cerritos Performing Arts Center. He served as part-time accompanist for Mater Dei High School's choral department from 1986 to 1988 and Rancho Santa Margarita High School in 1988. He returned to Mater Dei full-time from September 1989 to November 2000 when he joined the Mt. SAC staff.
He is musical director for Whittier Playhouse, Covina Valley Playhouse and St. Norbert Catholic Church in Orange. He has toured and accompanied Filipino singers Enrico Puno and Carina Afable and bandleader Rudy Regalado. He studies with master jazz pianist Mark Massey and Llew Matthews, legendary singer Nancy Wilson's pianist.
Despite his many years in music, Mojica finds excitement and new messages in each piece he plays or hears.
"When I was at Carnegie Hall with the Mt. SAC Chamber Singers, I thought about all the great names who've played piano on that stage: Horowitz, Rubenstein, Toscanini. God only knows all who've played on that piano I was playing," he said. "That was a humbling experience."
He was among the men who unanimously set aside macho appearances to openly weep when Gary Lewis, a tenor in Fermata Nowhere and Singcopation, sang a stirring rendition of Luther Vandross' "Dance With My Father" during St. Norbert's five Father's Day masses.
"We hadn't finished playing the last chorus at any of the masses when people jumped up clapping," he said. "All the fathers were crying. If you feel it, it's liturgical. It's spiritual. That's what I mean digging deep into a piece of music and conveying passion and emotion to people. "Music has no barriers, no denomination, no borders. It goes beyond everything. That's why it's called the universal language," Mojica concluded.