Mozart started his career as a composer at the age of four, when he began composing piano pieces. At the age of five he was composing minuets and by age nine he had composed his first symphony. He wrote 20 complete operas, his final and most spectacular being The Magic Flute, which he wrote in the last year of his life at age 35. Mozart was a combination of the revolutionary compositional brilliance of modern day composers such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney with the groundbreaking performance individuality of an Elvis Presley—all rolled into one. He was the ultimate iconic pop-star of the 18th century who traveled across Europe on tour, each one more outstanding than the next. Fortunately for a modern audience his genius has never faded. In celebration of his 250th birthday I wanted to capture some of his most joyous work on film, and decided that a contemporary movie version of The Magic Flute might be workable if told as the backdrop to a modern love story, conveyed on a fantastical scale.

The Magic Flute is an unparalleled masterpiece of music, and this film might be considered an epic in terms of the scope of production. Not only does the film weave between time periods, reality and the imagination, it is also Kevin Sullivan’s first significant movie to incorporate computer generated imagery with live action.

Many Anne of Green Gables fans may be familiar with today's poem of the day: The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. Anne performs a part of this poem at the White Sands concert in the first of the Anne of Green Gables films, to great fanfare.

Although brand new versions of The Magic Flute are premiering in opera houses all over the world, the famous production actually premiered in Vienna 220 years ago. To mark this year’s special anniversary, here are some interesting facts about what some consider Mozart’s most popular work.

The Broadway production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is predicted to be the star attraction in Opera Australia’s summer season in January.  It was recently announced that the OA’s program for 2012 includes the famous opera, created by Julie Taymor – the director of Broadway’s extremely successful production of The Lion King.

While many of Sullivan Entertainment’s stars have continued to achieve great success in the film and television industry, it is especially exciting when they’ve entered the world of music!  Road to Avonlea's Zachary Bennett (top photo, center), who played Felix King, is the lead singer of an indie rock band called Tin Star Orphans and they are gaining notoriety as one of the most exciting live bands in Toronto.

“Music is my life and my life is music. Anyone who does not understand this is not worthy of God.” ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart’s relationship with his father, Leopold, is one of the most compelling father-son relationships in history and has been dramatized on the screen and stage several times.  It is interesting that it is to his father that Mozart reveals what the modern world knows of hiLeos religious feelings and orientation.

I am in need of music that would flow
Over my fretful, feeling fingertips,
Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,
With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.

The Sullivan Movies library is filled with a number of inspiring dramas, in addition to its beloved miniseries and television shows.  One of these films is Mozart's Magic Flute Diaries, which was recently made by Kevin Sullivan and delves into the world of opera in an entirely unique way.

Here are ten statements made by the world famous composer about life, love and genius.

“Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius.”