He's been celebrated all year because it's the 250th anniversary of his birth. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is especially celebrated in June because it's time for the 18th annual Mainly Mozart Festival, which opened last weekend with a series of concerts by the Grammy-nominated Cuarteto Latinoamericano.Before discussing that recital and the rest of the Mainly Mozart Festival, however, Village News wants to make the public aware of the big, free, outdoor Mozart celebration starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, June 3, at the County Administration Building, 1600 Pacific Highway. There are five stages. Jeff Nevin's Virtuoso Mariachi leads off with traditional Mexican music as well as Mozart and other classical composers. Among the other groups are Westwind Brass, Icarus Puppet Company, Moderns for Mozart, and Splash Paint in Motion. Visitors will find food, mask making, puppet making and strolling performers as well. At 4 p.m., Cuarteto Latinoamericano plays Mexican waltzes for a company of 32 dancers under the direction of Jean Isaacs.Friday, May 27, Cuarteto Latinoamericano inaugurated the 2006 Mainly Mozart Festival with "Aroma foliado," a work by contemporary Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz commissioned by Frederica and James Rosenfield. Other works performed were Mozart's String Quartet in D, K.575, and Antonin Dvorak's String Quartet in E-flat Major, Opus 51.Performed in one movement, Ortiz's work takes inspiration and fragments of melody from the Mozart quartet that preceded it. It is playful, accessible, percussive, syncopated and lively, with some extraordinarily beautiful cello passages accompanied by harmonics in the higher strings.The Cuarteto was best heard in the Dvorak, which closed the program and seems to suit their temperament much better than Mozart. One felt from the opening that one would die of romantic delight, so rife were the glorious melodies and harmony. The group comprises brothers Saul Bitran and Aron Bitran, violins; Javier Montiel, viola; and the third brother, Alvaro Bitran, cello. They are great favorites from Mainly Mozart in Mazatlan as well as numerous San Diego appearances with the organization.

Mainly Mozart was founded in 1988 by Artistic Director David Atherton and Executive Director Nancy Laturno Bojanic. Acclaimed internationally, Atherton was music director of the San Diego Symphony from 1980-1987. The idea of the summer festival is to assemble and present first-chair musicians from prominent symphonic and chamber music organizations in concert, en masse as the Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, which performs under Atherton's baton, and in various thrilling combinations for recitals. Andres Cárdenas, concertmaster of the Pittsburgh Symphony, returns as concertmaster, sharing duties with William Preucil, concertmaster of The Cleveland Orchestra. Returning as well are Timothy Day, flute; Laura Griffiths, oboe; Jon Kimura Parker, piano; and Ronald Thomas, cello

Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel

"Virtuoso Variations "” Mozart and Chopin"

2 p.m. Sunday, June 4, El Cortez

 

"Mozart and Friends"

8 p.m. Sunday, June 4

The Neurosciences Institute

 

"Mozart and Gershwin"

7:30 p.m. Monday, June 5

Lyceum Theatre, Horton Plaza

 

Andres Cárdenas, violin and viola,

and Anton Nel, piano

Mozart, Brahms, Lutoslawski and Beethoven

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 7

The Neurosciences Institute

 

Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra

All-Mozart program, Atherton conducting

Soloists Nel, Parker, Cárdenas

8 p.m. Saturday, June 10

Copley Symphony Hall

750 B St., San Diego

 

Also 2 p.m. Sunday, June 11

California Center for the Arts

340 N. Escondido Blvd.

 

Music for Two Pianos

Nel, Parker, John Cox, horn; Ronald Thomas and Christopher French, cellos

Music by Mozart, Schumann and Rachmaninoff

8 p.m. Sunday, June 11

The Neurosciences Institute

 

Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra

David Atherton, conductor

Michael Collins, basset clarinet

All-Mozart program

8 p.m. Saturday, June 17

Copley Symphony Hall

 

Cárdenas, Timothy Day, flute; Laura Griffiths, oboe; Michael Collins, clarinet; Valentin Martchev, bassoon; Gregory Hustis, horn; Marc Shapiro, piano

Music of Rossini, Mozart, and Thuille

8 p.m. Sunday, June 18

The Neurosciences Institute

 

Preucil; David Wilson-Johnson,

bass-baritone; Shapiro

Mozart Sonata for Piano and Violin in C Major, K.296, and Schubert's "Winterreise"

8 p.m. Wednesday, June 21

The Neurosciences Institute

 

Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra

David Atherton, conductor

Susanna Phillips, soprano; Alison Tupay, mezzo-soprano; Mark Tevis, tenor; David Wilson-Johnson, bass-baritone; Los Angeles Master Chorale

Mozart's  Mass in C, K.317 ("Coronation")

Requiem in D Minor, K.626

8 p.m. Saturday, June 24

Copley Symphony Hall

For additional programming information and to purchase tickets, go to www.mozart2006celebration.com or call (619) 239-0100. n.