LANDING AN OLYMPIC-SIZE GIG, HE WRITES MR. WATTERS' OPUS.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

It's sort of like hitting a grand slam out of the park the first time up at bat.

Sure, it's a great feeling. But what are you going to do for an encore?

That's how Mark Watters of Chatsworth feels about being selected as music director for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 26th Olympiad - the 100th anniversary of the modern Games - next month in Atlanta.

With just 10 years under his belt as a professional composer for movies and TV, Watters says he's lucky to land such a momentous gig. After all, organizers anticipate that the three-hour opening ceremony will be watched by more than 3 billion people - more than any other show in the history of the planet.

And by composing pieces for the event, including an emotional finale to be sung by opera diva Jessye Norman, Watters is following in the footsteps of mentor John Williams.

``It's the most exciting thing I've ever done - absolutely,'' said Watters, who has won two Emmys for his television music compositions and wrote the music for the two Disney ``Aladdin'' sequels (the second of which is due for release in August).

``But I'm just wondering: What am I going to do to top the Olympics?''

The question is only half-serious. Although directing the music for the Summer Games certainly tops his career so far, it also will give the 41-year-old native Texan global exposure. He should be wondering ``What won't I do next?''

``You would think the Olympics would be the payoff for someone at the end of a career,'' he says. ``But I'm doing it at the beginning.''

The Olympics are a pretty heady assignment for a man who started out, humbly enough, to be a high school band director. But after graduating from the University of Southern California, Watters realized that teaching was not for him.

``I didn't have the fire in me to deal with all the obstacles that confront a public school teacher,'' he says.

On a whim, Watters took a course in film scoring at the University of California, Los Angeles. He thought of the class as a lark, an exploration of something fun. But it became a turning point in his life.

``A bell went off,'' he says. ``I saw that my dramatic instincts were good, and a film composer needs to be a dramatist. It's important to be creative and have a style, too. But if what you've written is not what the picture needs, it's going to destroy the film.''

His work with Disney and other studios brought Watters to the attention of Don Mischer, producer of the Olympics ceremonies, who hired him as a consultant in August 1995. He eventually won the job of music director.

Of the team of musicians, composers and directors working on the Olympics, Watters says:

``We have one goal in mind - to create the greatest opening ceremony the world has ever seen. Hopefully, we have, if it doesn't rain.''

About 90 percent of what audiences will hear that night - unlike Barcelona, this opening ceremony will be held at night to avoid the heat of the Southern day - will be new music composed for the event, Watters says.

Most of the music has been prerecorded by the Atlanta Symphony and the Atlanta Youth Symphony, a way to ensure against unanticipated problems. (The two symphonies also will play at the live ceremonies to the crowd in attendance. All vocals - provided by the likes of regional gospel choirs, glee clubs and professionals - also will be live.)

Watters says working with the youth symphony, hired because the Olympics could not afford the Atlanta Symphony for both ceremonies, has been an uplifting experience.

``It was a financial decision, but it has turned out to be a terrific plus. Hearing 15- and 16-year-olds playing like a professional organization is all that the Olympics embody.''

In addition to his work with the Olympics, Watters is continuing his film composing business and is musical director for country superstar Trisha Yearwood. On Sunday, he'll participate in a Hollywood Bowl tribute to Henry Mancini - another of his mentors - that will feature Yearwood singing one of Mancini's lesser-known ballads.

But he is most excited about ``Faster, Higher, Stronger,'' the song Norman will sing at the Olympics' close. Watters, who says songwriting is not his strong suit, wrote the tune with lyricist Lorraine Feather.

Initially, the Olympics committee wanted the orchestra to play Beethoven's ``Ode to Joy,'' which closed the Barcelona Games. But Watters - with Norman's backing - convinced members to go with something new.

``I pointed out that closing with `Ode to Joy' is the same way they close a Hollywood Bowl concert. This is the Olympics! So I asked them to let me write something. Then I came back to my studio and thought `Gee. How can I write something more uplifting than Beethoven's Ninth?' ''

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Photo: ``It's the most exciting thing I've ever done,'' Mar k Watters of Chatsworth says of being musical director of the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Gus Ruelas/Daily News