Founding Mainly Mozart
In June 1988, Maestro David Atherton and Nancy Laturno Bojanic created the Mainly Mozart Festival to give the people of Southern California an opportunity to experience the finest classical music. At the time, Atherton was an internationally celebrated conductor educated and trained in his native Britain, and Laturno Bojanic was a well-known and admired public relations, marketing and fundraising professional born and raised in Southern California.

The mission of Mainly Mozart is to foster appreciation of its namesake, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and other composers of genius through concerts, educational programs, and special events in San Diego County and Baja California, performed by internationally acclaimed artists. 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 he composed specifically for chamber orchestra.

 


 
Mainly Mozart Festival

After a year of planning and fundraising, the first Mainly Mozart Festival in June 1989 consisted of a series of nine concerts performed on the outdoor stage of the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. The Festival was received enthusiastically and ever since has been praised by critics for its innovative programming and exceptional performances. After two summers at the Globe facility, the Mainly Mozart Festival moved to other venues such as the Spreckels Theatre, Tijuana’s Centro Cultural, Copley Symphony Hall and Qualcomm Hall. In some instances, Festival performances occurred at smaller, more intimate spaces, such as St. Paul’s Cathedral near Hillcrest; Tijuana’s Catedral de Guadalupe and the Jewish Community Center in the Golden Triangle area. In 2008, the 20th anniversary Festival was produced at downtown San Diego’s renovated Balboa Theatre, where the Festival Orchestra was designated the facility’s permanent Resident Ensemble by San Diego Theatres Inc., operator of the Balboa.
 


The Festival Orchestra
The Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra is the largest annual assemblage of concertmasters and principal players from the nation’s leading orchestras to be found anywhere in North America. Among its members who have played with the ensemble since its creation are violinist William Preucil, Concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra; violinist Martin Chalifour, Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; and cellist Sarah Cleveland, Principal of the Ann Arbor Symphony.    
 

Spotlight Series
In 1996, Mainly Mozart began producing the Spotlight Series, featuring chamber music concerts or recitals during the winter and spring. The principal home of the series is the acoustically superb auditorium of The Neurosciences Institute in La Jolla, but performances are also given at St. Elizabeth Seton church in Carlsbad and at The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. Some of these concerts are performed for the benefit of local charitable organizations. The series often has featured Mainly Mozart Festival artists or artists slated to perform during a future Festival.
 





Club Amadeus
To show its appreciation of its major donors, Mainly Mozart instituted Club Amadeus in 1991. “Club A” members get together three times a year for chamber music concerts in a private, intimate setting–usually a home. Members receive such perks and benefits as VIP ticket subscriptions to the Mainly Mozart Festival, a reception with David Atherton after a Festival concert and recognition in published materials. In 2008, Club Amadeus North County was created in appreciation of major donors who live in that area of San Diego County.
 
 


Amadeus Gala
Once a year, Mainly Mozart patrons gather for the black-tie Amadeus Gala, a party/dinner held at an area hotel ballroom to raise funds for Mainly Mozart education programs and the annual Festival. The event, which as been proclaimed by some society writers as one of the city’s best annual parties, is noted as unique among local nonprofit organization black-tie events because of spectacular floral centerpieces and decorations of dinner tables. Prior to the dinner that includes a brief chamber music concert, guests bid on luxury items and gift baskets during a silent auction, and frequently are entertained by the creation of a giant oil painting created in front of them.   
 
 



Leadership
In 2006, Laturno Bojanic assumed a monumental leadership role by organizing and coordinating a year-long countywide celebration of Mozart's 250th birthday (Jan. 27, 1756). Approximately 70 cultural organizations in San Diego County and Mexico participated in events relevant to the life and works of Mozart. Mozartean-oriented organizations in Austria also participated in the celebration here. The overall cultural effort was the largest of its kind in the history of San Diego County. Two years later, Laturno Bojanic organized a series of five performing arts programs in collaboration with four other San Diego-based arts organizations to bring the arts to South Bay residents at the new Kassebaum Theater at Mater Dei Catholic High School in Chula Vista.
 
 

The Future
Mainly Mozart continues to explore ways to enrich the populations of San Diego County and Baja California through music and education, while supporting a community of artists that bring these wonderful works to life. In coming years, Mainly Mozart expects to expand the size and scope of the annual Festival, possibly with seminars, conferences, art exhibits and other mind-stimulating activities. Mainly Mozart also plans to create a three-pronged social change program that uses music in a non-traditional way to open dialog among divided communities, inspire learning among at-risk youth, and foster healing for children and communities in need.