Since 1988 the Mainly Mozart Festival led by Artistic Director, David Atherton, has been bringing outstanding musicians from leading symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States to San Diego for three weeks each year. Mainly Mozart offers artists and audiences alike the opportunity to delight in intense chamber orchestra and chamber music experiences of the highest artistic standards.

Mainly Mozart has come to occupy a unique position in the cultural life of San Diego and Baja California. The summer Festival bridges the gap between the winter concert season of the region’s primary performing arts institutions and most of the major summer events. A special pleasure of its format is that artists are able to discover and work with new and highly talented colleagues in an idyllic musical setting, while local audiences can hear a unique orchestra made up of many of North America’s finest musicians. For its first two seasons, the Festival appeared in the pastoral ambience of the Old Globe’s Festival Stage where patrons huddled under blankets and applauded brilliant performances accompanied by the sounds of birds, residents of the nearby Zoo, and the occasional airplane headed for Lindbergh Field. The need for a more congenial acoustical environment quickly became evident; in 1991, the Festival moved to the Spreckels Theatre in the heart of downtown San Diego.

Since January 1993, public concerts have presented some of Mainly Mozart’s most popular artists in San Diego and Mexico each fall and winter. These recital and chamber music performances now comprise the Spotlight Series, the inauguration of which was celebrated during the 1996-97 season.

The Festival Binacional de Mozart, as Mainly Mozart is known in Mexico, presented its first concert in a private Tijuana residence in 1992. Since then, capacity audiences south of the border have participated in year-round Festival, Spotlight Series, and educational outreach programs held in Tijuana, Tecate, Mexicali, Ensenada, Rosarito, and Mazatlan.

Club Twelve-Fifty, established in 1992, is Mainly Mozart’s major donor group. Club Twelve-Fifty events give members the unique opportunity to meet key Mainly Mozart artists and hear chamber music as it was intended to be heard - in elegant private residences and intimate settings. Members also receive two full VIP subscriptions to the Festival and invitation to a black-tie VIP reception with Artistic Director David Atherton and the Festival artists. Year-round special events have always been a part of the excitement of Mainly Mozart, raising funds for the Festival, Spotlight Series, and educational outreach programs. Annual events include the Mozart Birthday Celebration, Mainly Mozart’s annual black-tie gala.

Established in 1992, the "Living Composer" Series, Mainly Mozart's core educational outreach program, brings the lives and music of Mozart, Schubert, and Beethoven to more than 10,000 elementary school children each year. These entertaining assemblies not only instil and heighten the appreciation for classical music in students, but also teach music terms and concert-going etiquette. In June the students are invited to a free demonstration concert given by the Mainly Mozart Festival orchestra. Educational offerings also include free pre-concert lectures given by music scholars before each Festival concert held in San Diego County.

With a year-round presence on both sides of the border, Mainly Mozart brings San Diego and Mexico closer together culturally and economically.

Festival Artists

David Atherton - Artistic Director and Conductor

Anne-Marie McDermott - piano

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet - piano

William Preucil - violin