Oscar Garcia plays the piano and Hector L Trastoi sings at the Mildred & Claude Pepper Senior Center in Sweetwater. Garcia performs at the center five days a week. Photo credit: Olivia Reyzabal Roig.
One afternoon while he was strolling through a park with his nieces and nephews, Oscar Garcia noticed some elderly residents outside of the Mildred & Claude Pepper Senior Center. He entered the building and quickly decided that surely there must be some contribution he could make.
There was — and he has been doing it for almost 30 years.
“I saw an old piano over there,” Garcia recalled of when he first entered the senior center, 10600 SW Fourth St. “It was a very bad piano, very worn out, very out of tune, but the old people were happy,” he said. “I thought, here I am going to create another nest.”
The multitalented musician, pianist, arranger and composer who has directed symphony and dance orchestras in South America, performs from 8 a.m. to noon five days a week at the center, where Maria Perez has frequented for the past 10 years.
Garcia is a gift, Perez said.
“Oscar is the best thing we have here, a professional man, an artist. He makes our lives happy,” Perez said.
“I don’t sing, but I make the piano sing,” Garcia said. “I make 88 keys talk.”
Music talent inherited
Garcia, who comes from a poor background in Medellin, Colombia, said he inherited his music talent from family members, none of whom was formally trained.
“I have been studying all my life because in my childhood I thought big,” said Garcia, who learned to play the organ and piano from his father. He also studied at a music conservatory in Medellin where he learned to play more instruments. Garcia used his time there to form his own orchestra, La Playa. The group played at hotels and carnivals.
Garcia decided to take his talents to Venezuela when he was 17, and with the help of Henrique Caprile, a former deputy of the Venezuelan National Congress, Garcia joined the famous music group, Los Melodicos, where he became a successful arranger of tropical music. He said he produced nearly 900 songs.
“Every single one of them was a hit,” Garcia said, including the popular “No me dejes Corazón” (“Don´t Leave me, my Love”).
Social media presence
A Miami resident, Garcia, said he came to South Florida to join other family members. He is divorced but declines to reveal his age. He maintains a musical social media presence through his brand, “Antologia Musical,” where he shares videos, tales and advice on YouTube, Tiktok and Facebook.
And he is a constant at the Mildred & Claude Pepper Senior Center, where clients begin arriving at 7 a.m. to engage in a series of activities, including Bingo, English, painting and tai chi classes.
Garcia provides musical entertainment, performing a variety of musical genres, from Caribbean to classical. Occasionally, he performs bachata, flamenco and salsa, consistently impressing the audience in the center, including Sweetwater Commissioner Idania Llanio.
“I come almost every day unless I have meetings in the morning and I can’t come,” Llanio said, adding that she enjoys seeing Garcia performing and participating in the activities.
Hector L. Trastoi, who has been going to the senior center for six years, said he still gets excited when talking about Garcia.
“He is an incredible teacher, a great teacher, a genius,” Trastoi said.
Garcia has developed strong relationships with many of the residents.
“I tell them, this is your second home,” Garcia said. “Here you are entertained, listening to music.”
Although he no longer performs professionally, he said he will continue to perform at the center for as long as he can.
“I am very afraid of death, but I want to be remembered as what I was, with the work that I have done, which is very important,” Garcia said. “I have helped all my life.”
The Mildred & Claude Pepper Senior Activities Center operates five days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., catering to approximately 200 people. Sweetwater residents are provided daily transportation from their homes to the center and back, as well as free healthy meals. For more information, call the facility at 305-552-1319.
