He was the epitome of a child prodigy. At age three, he started playing the keyboard and by his fifth birthday, he was already composing minuets. Between then and Dec. 5, 1791, when he died of rheumatic fever at 35, he wrote 626 works. Although he was buried in a pauper's grave, new evidence suggests that in his heyday he earned today's equivalent of $45,000 a year. And this year, the world is celebrating his birth like mad!

Austria is gearing up for a jubilee year of concerts and celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birth. Several million tourists are expected to travel to Salzburg-Mozart's home town. Tourist traps are filled with T-shirts, coffee mugs, calendars and oddities like Mozartwurst -a special sausage created in Salzburg. Such overindulgence in all things Mozartean has driven one reporter to say that "Salzburg is on the verge of becoming Schmaltzburg."

Although naysayers worry that overexposure might trivialize the geniuses' work, most music critics and authors agree the more Mozart the merrier. The magic is spreading as thousands of events take place in cities like Paris, Berlin, London, Prague and Vienna. New York's Metropolitan Opera is opening a new production of The Magic Flute to add to the worldwide festivities.

"Mozart, for me, is the light I orient my life around. He is a gift from God," said Angelika Kirschschlager, a celebrated Austrian mezzo-soprano who says singing his works "purifies not only the voice but the soul." I'm not sure how the maestro himself would view such adoration. He was, after all, a high strung prankster whose sense of humour was quite frankly scatological.

But God works in mysterious ways, and the music of Mozart has had a profound influence on many lives, including mine. It was during a solo rendition of one of his arias from Don Giovanni that I suddenly realized the power opera has a communication tool. In fact, my work with children and opera really took flight when I produced a children's version of The Magic Flute for Grade Fours and Fives. Since then, my primary students have also performed The Marriage of Figaro and Mozart's music has figured prominently in my work as an elementary school music teacher.

There is one image in The Magic Flute that speaks to me as a musician and as a believer. Towards the end of this opera, Princess Pamina and Prince Tamino are put through trials to test their loyalty and faith. In fact, they are asked to walk through fire and water. I can never hear this music or see this scene without thinking of one of my favourite Bible passages: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord, you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" (Isaiah 43:1-3).

Perhaps Mozart has shored up my beliefs because he was, despite all his personal imperfections, a man of faith. As he said himself: "It is a great consolation for me to remember that the Lord, to whom I had drawn near in humble and child-like faith, has suffered and died for me, and that He will look on me in love and compassion."