Mainly Mozart Festival
Encyclopedia
Mainly Mozart is a 5013 non-profit based in San Diego, California
, and is an internationally renowned presenter of world-class musicians from some of the nation’s most celebrated orchestras.
Maestro
David Atherton
and Executive Director Nancy Laturno, formerly of the San Diego Symphony
, created Mainly Mozart in 1988 to give the people of Southern California
and Baja California
an opportunity to experience the finest classical music performed live by principal orchestral musicians in the summer. Players have come from such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic
, Los Angeles Philharmonic
, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
, the San Francisco Symphony
, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The focus was placed on Mozart because he is considered one of the world's greatest composers, and because of the breadth of masterful works that he composed specifically for chamber orchestra. Since its inception, Mainly Mozart has added the works of other composers with an emphasis on those of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Using the common language of music, Mainly Mozart has served as a regional resource by connecting communities in Southern California and Baja California
to Mainly Mozart musicians, classical music, and stories behind the music.
in Balboa Park. Over the ensuing years, Mainly Mozart has increased its overall annual concert performances staged at various venues. In June 2008, and just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Mainly Mozart Festival, Mainly Mozart will become the primary tenant of the restored 83-year-old, 1,300-seat Balboa Theatre
in downtown San Diego. A $26-million renovation of the “jewel box” theatre has maintained its blend of Mediterranean, Moorish and Spanish Revival architectural styles. Since 1992, the Balboa Theatre
has been on the National Register of Historic Places
. San Diego’s Centre City Development Corporation funded the restoration.
, but facilities in the north San Diego County coastal community of Carlsbad
, and the inland community of Rancho Santa Fe
are also used.
(now Mozart Binacional). This was also the year that Mainly Mozart established an educational component to bring music to students in low income or at risk neighborhoods in both San Diego County and Baja California. These programs are continually expanding and now reach over 60,000 students in both countries.
The lives and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and Ludwig van Beethoven
are brought to school children through the Living Composers Series. These informative and entertaining half-hour assemblies engage students in interactive mini-plays set to the music of these master composers. Question and answer session rounds out the teaching session, and in-school materials are provided for both the pre- and post- performance educational activities.
Mainly Mozart also has been working to enrich the lives of economically disadvantaged families in Southeast San Diego
through a partnership with the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA
. Mainly Mozart's free ticket program has allowed hundreds of children to enjoy their very first concert experience at Copley Symphony Hall
(home of the San Diego Symphony
). In another outreach program, Mainly Mozart offers high school and college music students discounted concert tickets.
, who based his composition on characters from Mozart operas. In 2006, the suite was expanded by Barker and was performed in San Diego during the Mainly Mozart-led year-long San Diego County-wide celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday (January 27, 1756). The celebration was coordinated with cultural officials in Austria
.
Other annual funding for Mainly Mozart is provided, in part, by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
; the County of San Diego Community Enhancement program; the California Arts Council
; the National Endowment for the Arts
; and contributions from local businesses and foundations.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and is an internationally renowned presenter of world-class musicians from some of the nation’s most celebrated orchestras.
Maestro
Maestro
Maestro is a title of extreme respect given to a master musician. The term is most commonly used in the context of Western classical music and opera. This is associated with the ubiquitous use of Italian vocabulary for classical music terms...
David Atherton
David Atherton
David Atherton OBE, is an English conductor.-Background:Atherton was born in Blackpool, Lancashire in a musical family. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School. His father, Robert Atherton, was the Music Master at St Joseph's College, Blackpool and was also a conductor...
and Executive Director Nancy Laturno, formerly of the San Diego Symphony
San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. On 6 December 1910, it gave its first concert as the San Diego Civic Orchestra.Currently, the Symphony performs over 100 concerts each season...
, created Mainly Mozart in 1988 to give the people of Southern California
Southern California
Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...
and Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
an opportunity to experience the finest classical music performed live by principal orchestral musicians in the summer. Players have come from such ensembles as the New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, Los Angeles Philharmonic
Los Angeles Philharmonic
The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...
, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra
The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra...
, the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
, and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
The focus was placed on Mozart because he is considered one of the world's greatest composers, and because of the breadth of masterful works that he composed specifically for chamber orchestra. Since its inception, Mainly Mozart has added the works of other composers with an emphasis on those of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Using the common language of music, Mainly Mozart has served as a regional resource by connecting communities in Southern California and Baja California
Baja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
to Mainly Mozart musicians, classical music, and stories behind the music.
From the Old Globe to the Balboa
The first Mainly Mozart Festival in June 1989 – a series of nine concerts—was performed on the outdoor stage of the Old Globe TheatreOld Globe Theatre
The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons...
in Balboa Park. Over the ensuing years, Mainly Mozart has increased its overall annual concert performances staged at various venues. In June 2008, and just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Mainly Mozart Festival, Mainly Mozart will become the primary tenant of the restored 83-year-old, 1,300-seat Balboa Theatre
Balboa Theatre
Balboa Theater is a theater located in downtown San Diego, California, that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Built in 1924, the Balboa Theater was a grand 1920s movie palace with a seating capacity of 1,600. The theater was converted to housing for the U.S. Navy...
in downtown San Diego. A $26-million renovation of the “jewel box” theatre has maintained its blend of Mediterranean, Moorish and Spanish Revival architectural styles. Since 1992, the Balboa Theatre
Balboa Theatre
Balboa Theater is a theater located in downtown San Diego, California, that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Built in 1924, the Balboa Theater was a grand 1920s movie palace with a seating capacity of 1,600. The theater was converted to housing for the U.S. Navy...
has been on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
. San Diego’s Centre City Development Corporation funded the restoration.
Spotlight Series
In 1996, Mainly Mozart began producing the Spotlight Series featuring chamber music concerts during the winter and spring. The principal home of the series is The Neurosciences Institute in La JollaLa Jolla, San Diego, California
La Jolla is an affluent, hilly seaside resort community, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California within the northern city limits of San Diego. La Jolla had the highest home prices in the nation in 2008 and 2009; the average price of a standardized...
, but facilities in the north San Diego County coastal community of Carlsbad
Carlsbad, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Carlsbad had a population of 105,328. The population density was 2,693.1 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Carlsbad was 87,205 White, 1,379 African American, 514 Native American, 7,460 Asian, 198 Pacific Islander, 4,189 from other...
, and the inland community of Rancho Santa Fe
Rancho Santa Fe, California
Rancho Santa Fe known locally as ″The Ranch″, is one of the most exclusive and affluent communities in Southern California. It is also a census-designated place in San Diego County, California and an unincorporated bedroom community of San Diego County...
are also used.
Bi-national & Educational Outreach
In 1992 the Mainly Mozart Orchestra was invited to participate in the first Festival Internacional de Mozart in Baja CaliforniaBaja California
Baja California officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is both the northernmost and westernmost state of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North...
(now Mozart Binacional). This was also the year that Mainly Mozart established an educational component to bring music to students in low income or at risk neighborhoods in both San Diego County and Baja California. These programs are continually expanding and now reach over 60,000 students in both countries.
The lives and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
and Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
are brought to school children through the Living Composers Series. These informative and entertaining half-hour assemblies engage students in interactive mini-plays set to the music of these master composers. Question and answer session rounds out the teaching session, and in-school materials are provided for both the pre- and post- performance educational activities.
Mainly Mozart also has been working to enrich the lives of economically disadvantaged families in Southeast San Diego
Southeast San Diego
Southeast San Diego is the southeastern portion of the City of San Diego, generally represented by the urban neighborhoods directly east of Downtown San Diego, bordered by Interstate 5 and south of the Martin Luther King Jr...
through a partnership with the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
. Mainly Mozart's free ticket program has allowed hundreds of children to enjoy their very first concert experience at Copley Symphony Hall
Copley Symphony Hall
Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego, California, designed by Weeks and Day, opened in 1929 as the Fox Theatre for $2.5 million. The hall was conferred to the San Diego Symphony in 1984....
(home of the San Diego Symphony
San Diego Symphony
The San Diego Symphony is an American symphony orchestra, based in San Diego, California. On 6 December 1910, it gave its first concert as the San Diego Civic Orchestra.Currently, the Symphony performs over 100 concerts each season...
). In another outreach program, Mainly Mozart offers high school and college music students discounted concert tickets.
Other endeavors
Mainly Mozart commissioned “The Amadeus Suite” in 1999. It was created by British jazz trumpeter Guy BarkerGuy Barker
Guy Barker is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year had joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra...
, who based his composition on characters from Mozart operas. In 2006, the suite was expanded by Barker and was performed in San Diego during the Mainly Mozart-led year-long San Diego County-wide celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday (January 27, 1756). The celebration was coordinated with cultural officials in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
Club Amadeus
To show its appreciation of its patron/donors, Mainly Mozart has presented a smaller, more intimate concert series known as Club Amadeus. The supporters hear chamber music in elegant private residences and other special venues throughout San Diego.Other annual funding for Mainly Mozart is provided, in part, by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture
The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture is the official San Diego County, California, USA arts council.The City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture was established in 1988 by City Ordinance to serve in an advisory capacity to the Mayor, City Council and City Manager on...
; the County of San Diego Community Enhancement program; the California Arts Council
California Arts Council
The California Arts Council is a state agency based in Sacramento. Its eleven council members are appointed by the Governor and the state Legislature...
; the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
; and contributions from local businesses and foundations.