Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional De Mexico

"Silvestre." In Spanish, the word means wild, as in untamed or undomesticated. Few incipient artists have been as prophetically named as Silvestre Revueltas, the great free spirit of Mexican classical music. Born on the last day of the 19th century in a rural village, Revueltas revealed precocious musical talent, principally on the violin.

"Silvestre." In Spanish, the word means wild, as in untamed or undomesticated. Few incipient artists have been as prophetically named as Silvestre Revueltas, the great free spirit of Mexican classical music. Born on the last day of the 19th century in a rural village, Revueltas revealed precocious musical talent, principally on the violin.

In a collaboration between the visual and performing arts, "Dos Visiones" is an exhibition of the artistic works that inspired the musical composition of the same title commissioned by the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico and the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra. Each movement in the piece celebrates a particular painting from the museum, including works by Wladimir Zabaleta, Alejandro Colunga and Julio Valdez. * Museum of Latin American Art 628 Alamitos Ave., Long Beach Hours: 11:30 a.m.

Almost everyone in classical music these days makes well-meaning noises about reaching out to the Latino community, but the Long Beach Symphony actually did something significant about it. Saturday night at the Terrace Theatre, the orchestra and its music director, Enrique Arturo Diemecke, gave the U.S. premiere of an arresting multimedia piece called "Dos Visiones." Two visions indeed, for everywhere you looked, there were pairs.

Musical America, the international directory of the performing arts, lists 13 orchestras based in Mexico. Mexico City has seven of them. The Opera de Bellas Artes in Mexico City has been the site of triumphant appearances by international opera stars--sometimes before they sang in the United States--for almost 65 years. Does any of that surprise you? "There's so much ignorance about what goes on [in Mexico]," said Dean Corey, executive director of the Orange County Philharmonic Society.

Two years ago, two composers -- one from the United States, the other from Mexico -- met for the first time at the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach. Their mission: to create an orchestral suite reflecting two cultures and inspired by the museum's permanent collection. The result is "Dos Visiones," which will receive its U.S. premiere by the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra at the Terrace Theater on Saturday.

It's either the zeitgeist, or shameless demographic pandering, or some of both. But the 2002-03 arts season is something of a high-water mark for Southland arts organizations offering Latin American and Latino fare.

It may seem strange to call an orchestra as lively, as enthusiastic, as energetic, and, most of all, as fresh as is the Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Mexico a dying breed. These particular musicians, under their music director Enrique Arturo Diemecke, appeared in excellent musical health at UCLA's Royce Hall on Saturday night. They appeared, moreover, to be fired by a sense of mission that makes one believe that they plan to be around for quite a while. I am sure they will be.

I'm culturally exhausted. Week after week, it's been an unrelenting lineup of artistic activities. Up until all hours. Commuting to engagements from Costa Mesa to Universal City--concerts, dances, art exhibits, film festivals. How is one man expected to keep up with this much festivity? Esta muy hot! That's actually the Spanglish slogan of a cool, easy-to-read Web site with a calendar of events for Los Angeles and Orange counties: www.LatinoLA.com.

The mood of the luncheon was lively, upbeat. The message, sobering: Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of American women. To educate women about that unsettling statistic, the Orange County chapter of the American Heart Assn. staged the premiere of its Women With Heart benefit last week at the Irvine Marriott hotel. Across the nation, the American Heart Assn.

TELEVISION What a Week: Thanks to Hillary Rodham Clinton's Jan. 12 appearance, CBS' "Late Show With David Letterman" beat NBC's "Tonight Show With Jay Leno" in the ratings last week, Letterman's first weekly win over Leno since 1995. The CBS show averaged nearly 6 million viewers, a 57% increase over the same week last year. The first lady's visit drew more than 11 million viewers, "Late Show's" best ratings since its 1993 premiere, except for during the high-rated 1994 Olympics.