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| © Charlotte Dobre |
The untold story of Mozart’s forgotten sister - a genius silenced by history. “Strikingly beautiful”, New York Times/ “This is a gem of a show” The Stage/“Hauntingly beautiful compositions" LA Times Winner of New York Innovative Theater Award (Outstanding Solo Performance)
Winner of New York Innovative Theater Award (Outstanding Original Music)
DRAMA Desk nominated
Off-Broadway Alliance nominated
(Not jazz but of interest to music lovers of all genres - Lance)
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Long before she vanished into the margins of music history, Maria Anna
Mozart (known as Nannerl) dazzled Europe as a musical prodigy, performing
alongside her brother Wolfgang Amadeus. But while his fame endured, hers was
extinguished.
Based on meticulous research and drawn directly from the Mozart
family’s own letters, The Other Mozart by Sylvia Milo has
toured internationally – from New York to Vienna, Salzburg to Hong Kong – and
inspired a PBS documentary, Mozart’s Sister, released in
2024.
The Other Mozart brings
Nannerl’s buried story to light. Returning to the UK for the first time in
over a decade for their debut Edinburgh Festival Fringe run , the
production tells the poignant true tale of a genius female musician whose
life was shaped and ultimately limited by the social constraints of her time.
Staged atop a huge 5-metre 18th-century inspired dress that becomes
both costume and set, conjuring a fantastical yet claustrophobic world of
beauty and restriction, The Other Mozart immerses audiences
in a sumptuous classical-era world. The dress, designed by Magdalena
Dabrowska, spills across the stage like a living memory, while clouds of
powder and the scent of perfume rise into the air. The performance becomes a
multi-sensory experience, using award-winning original music created by
Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen (Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival) for
clavichords, music boxes, teacups and fans to evoke Nannerl’s world.
Built from the Mozart family’s own letters, all of which were
preserved by Nannerl herself, the play paints a portrait
of a young woman of extraordinary talent. We meet her as a child prodigy,
touring Europe to great acclaim alongside her brother, her name often
appearing first on the bill above Amadeus. But at aged 18, societal
expectations stopped her career in its tracks. Women were not meant to
perform professionally in public, much less compose music, but were expected
to marry and have children. Her brother praised her compositions and
encouraged her to keep writing music. Her father did not. None of her
compositions survived.
In an era reckoning with whose voices get preserved and whose are
silenced, The Other Mozart resonates powerfully. Nannerl’s
story is not just a historical footnote; it’s emblematic of how women’s
creative legacies have been systematically erased. The play speaks directly
to contemporary conversations around equity in the arts, historical
revisionism, and the ongoing work of reclaiming lost narratives. The
Other Mozart offers a haunting, timely reminder: even if a person is
incredibly talented or brilliant, they still need to be seen, heard, and
supported by systems that have the power to elevate them. Historically, women
like Nannerl didn’t have that. And many others still don’t.
Created, written and originally performed by Sylvia Milo, and now also
featuring Daniela Galli in alternating performances, The Other Mozart has
received international acclaim. Following a celebrated Off-Broadway run at
HERE Arts Center, the show has toured to 30 U.S. states and 9 countries. The
play has inspired a wave of renewed interest in Nannerl’s life, including the
feature-length documentary film, broadcast in the U.S. on PBS, on
Austrian television, and in cinemas internationally. The documentary was
directly inspired by Milo’s writing in The Guardian, tracing how
this long-erased figure was finally brought back into cultural consciousness.
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Created, Written by Sylvia MiloPerformed, in rotation by Sylvia Milo and Daniela
Galli
Directed by Isaac Byrne
Music Composed by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen
Additional Music by Marianna Martines, L.
Mozart, and W. A. Mozart
Sound Design by Nathan Davis
Period Style Movement Direction Janice Orlandi
Costume Magdalena Dąbrowska and Miodrag Guberinic
Lighting Design Joshua Rose
Hair Design Courtney Bednarowski
Stage Manager, hair and makeup Kodi Lynn Milburn
The Other Mozart will be
performed at 1.45pm in Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Two) from 30th July
– 25th August (not 12th)
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