Created and originally performed by Sylvia Milo, and now featuring Daniela Galli in alternating performances, The Other Mozart tells the true story of Maria Anna Mozart, the forgotten sister of Wolfgang Amadeus. A musical prodigy in her own right, Nannerl, as she was called, toured Europe to great acclaim as a child, her name often appearing above her brother’s on concert bills. But history had other plans. Where Wolfgang’s genius was celebrated, hers was stifled, buried by the weight of 18th-century gender expectations.
Told in the first person and built from the Mozart family’s preserved letters, Milo’s performance is masterful. She brings Nannerl’s voice to life vividly and heartbreakingly, capturing both the early sparkle of artistic promise and the growing frustration of a woman boxed in by social convention. It’s a story of talent denied, of a young woman whose compositions were praised by her brother, yet who wasn’t allowed to publish or perform them. None of her music survived.
The staging is striking in its simplicity and symbolism. Milo performs atop a massive 18th-century-inspired gown — five metres wide — which acts as both costume and set. Designed by Magdalena Dabrowska, the dress sprawls across the stage like a memory made tangible, becoming a living metaphor for Nannerl’s confinement. Throughout the performance, clouds of powder and wafts of perfume fill the air, immersing the audience in the sensory world of the classical era.
Milo’s physicality is also remarkable: dancing, hopping and moving freely in 18th century undergarments for much of the show, she evokes Nannerl’s hope for a life unbound. But when she straps herself into the corset, its bones cracking audibly, and links herself back to the monumental dress, the effect is devastating. The symbolism is clear, yet deeply affecting: her body, like her brilliance, constrained by rules, not of her own making.
This show is more than a biographical monologue, The Other Mozart is a powerful meditation on whose stories get told — and whose are left behind. In today’s ongoing cultural reckoning with silenced voices, this show feels vital. Nannerl Mozart is not a footnote in her brother’s story, she’s emblematic of generations of women whose talents were extinguished before they could truly burn. This performance doesn’t just reclaim a lost voice — it demands that we listen.
The Other Mozart is running at Assembly George Square Studios (Studio Two) until 25 August (not 12). Get your tickets here.
Image provided by Gingerbread Agency to The Student as press.