Tuesday is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 248th birthday. The Pennsylvania Centre Orchestra is having a celebration for the dearly departed composer a couple days early.

The orchestra and some special guests will honor Mozart in this annual concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in Esber Recital Hall, Music Building I.

"We'll travel through Mozart's life with him," the orchestra's music director and conductor Douglas Meyer said. "His life was far too short."

The concert will open with an obscure piece, "Concertone for 2 Violins and Orchestra in C Major, K. 190," composed when Mozart was just 18 years old.

"I knew of its existence but first heard it when we decided to do it for this concert," concertmaster James Lyon said. "A large number of musically sophisticated people have probably never heard this piece."

Lyon will be joined by associate concertmaster Julie Savignon as the second violin in the piece. The title of the concertone is somewhat misleading, be-cause it also features a great deal of orchestral involvement as well as oboe and cello solos, Savignon said.

"It's a real treasure to find it and to be able to play it," Savignon said. "I'm going to include it in my repertoire from now on."

Selections from Mozart's opera Cosí fan tutte, ossia la scuola degli amanti (Women are all alike, or The School for Lovers) follow the concertone, featuring arias, duets and trios by Charlene Canty, Patricia Donohue Burns and Brent Stater of the Opera Theater of Pittsburgh.

Two more operatic selections will be performed; first, "Non so più cosa son, cosa faccio" from Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 (The Marriage of Figaro), then "Mi tradi quel alma ingrata" from Don Giovanni, K. 527.

The concert will conclude, not with cake and presents, but with Mozart's 1787 Symphony No. 38 in D Major, K. 504, better known as The Prague Symphony.

As a musician, Lyon said the birthday boy's music is uplifting and energizing.

"It poses special challenges, but it's always a joy to play Mozart," Savignon said. "It's always about life and it brings out a lot of joy and happiness. To have an occasion to play Mozart -- for me, it's a wonderful opportunity."