The Other Mozartby Sylvia Milo

The forgotten story of Mozart’s genius sister

“Strikingly beautiful.” THE NEW YORK TIMES

“This is a gem of a show”THE STAGE (LONDON)

DRAMA DESK AWARDS NOMINATIONOutstanding Sound Design in a Play

NEW YORK INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDSOutstanding solo performanceOutstanding original music

OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE AWARD NOMINATIONBest Solo Performance

“Imagine an eleven-year-old girl, performing the most difficult sonatas and

concertos of the greatest composers, on the harpsichord or fortepiano, with precision,

with incredible lightness, with impeccable taste. It was a source of wonder to many.”

— AUGSBURGER INTELLIGENZ, MAY 19, 1763.

Little Matchstick Factory's THE OTHER MOZART is the true and untold story of Nannerl Mozart, the sister ofAmadeus — a prodigy, keyboard virtuoso and composer, who performed through-out Europe with her brotherto equal acclaim, but her work and her story faded away, lost to history.

Created by Sylvia Milo, the monodrama is set in a stunning 18-foot dress (designed by Magdalena Dabrowskafrom the National Theater of Poland). Directed by Isaac Byrne, THE OTHER MOZART is based on facts, storiesand lines pulled directly from the Mozart family’s humorous and heartbreaking letters.

TRAILER

www.theothermozart.com/video

Along with music composed by her famous brother and Marianna Martines (a female composer who inspiredNannerl), original music was written for the play by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen (of Lincoln Center’s MostlyMozart Festival and the International Contemporary Ensemble) for the instruments Nannerl knew intimately,such as clavichords, music boxes, and bells, as well as tea-cups, fans, and other ordinary objects that might havecaptured her imagination.

With the opulent beauty of the dress and hair design, the sweet smell of perfume, and the clouds of dustingpowder rising from the stage, the performance creates a multi-sensual experience and transports the audienceinto a world of outsized beauty and delight — but also of overwhelming restrictions and prejudice. There, incommunion with the audience, this other Mozart at last tells her story.

The Other Mozartwritten and performed by Sylvia Milo

BOOKING CONTACT

Ann Patrice CarriganPOETRY IN MOTIONannpatrice@poetinmo.com585-415-7098

PRODUCER

Little Matchstick FactoryNew Yorkwww.theothermozart.com

144 South Fitzhugh Street No. 3 Rochester, NY 14608-2274www.poetinmo.com

Artistic Company

SYLVIA MILO (PROJECT CREATOR, WRITER, ACTRESS)www.sylviamilo.com

An actress, playwright and producer. Her play, The Other Mozart, had a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run atHERE Arts Center and in London at St. James Theatre, and has been touring in the US and in Europe. She receivedthe New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Solo Performance in The Other Mozart. She played Bob Dylan in the OBIE Award-winning The West Village Fragments— by Peculiar Works; Ophelia in The OpheliaLandscape— with Mira Furlan at the Mark Morris Center; Hamlet in Hamlet— an all-female version of the play,which she adapted and directed herself; she has performed at La Mama, Cherry Lane, Ontological-Hysteric, DixonPlace and The Ohio Theatre. As a member of the Bats at the Flea Theater she starred in Seating Arrangements— co-written by Sylvia, directed by Eric Pold of Gob Squad. Sylvia is also a violinist (acoustic and electric violins - IrvingPlaza, The Knitting Factory, CBGB's, Joe's Pub) and has composed scores for dance and theater (Merce CunninghamStudio, La Mama). She is a graduate of New York University, with extensive training at the Lee Strasberg Institute(assistant to Robert Castle), Michael Chekhov, Stella Adler and The Grotowski Institute in Poland.

ISAAC BYRNE (DIRECTOR)www.isaacbyrne.com

In New York City, Isaac has directed the premieres of Green, To Nineveh (both at American Place Theatre), Some-thing True (Samuel French Short Play Festival), and co-directed I Used To Write On Walls (Gene Frankel Theater),Diane and The Jessica (The OHIO Theatre as part of SHORT LOVE), and the staged reading of Miss Lily GetsBoned (The LARK)—all by Bekah Brunstetter, Many Worlds by William Borden (The Red Room), Arms and theOctopus by Casey Wimpee (The OHIO Theater as part of fuckplays), Fresh Kills by Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder(at 59E59), Inter Course by Brandon Koebernick (American Place Theatre), Playoff Picture by Paul John Desena(American Place Theatre), and The New Normal by Donnetta Lavinia Grays (June Havoc). He has also directedTrue West by Sam Shepard for Curious Frog Company which was performed in an East Village Apt. He developedand directed Desiree Burch’s solo show 52 Man Pick Up (Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova, Edinburg Fringe Festival-Scotland,OHIO Theatre, 59E59, NY Int. Fringe). To Ninevehwas nominated for nine NY IT Awards and won six includingOutstanding Direction, Outstanding Production, and Outstanding Original Full Length. A founding member ofWorking Man’s Clothes Productions, where he served as Artistic Director for four years, Isaac is currently servingas the Artistic Director for the newly formed THEATRE 4 the PEOPLE. With T4TP he has directed its inauguralco-production with Bryant Park, A Grimm Reality and The Shakespeare Project. In his “spare” time, Isaac teachesat NYFA.

NATHAN DAVIS (COMPOSER, SOUND DESIGNER)www.nathandavis.com

Nathan Davis “writes music that deals deftly and poetically with timbre and sonority,” according to the NYTimes.His ballet/opera Hagoromo premiered at BAM Next Wave Festival in a production from American Opera Projects,performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) with dancers Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto. Hiswork also includes premieres at Lincoln Center, Tanglewood Music Center, Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, thePark Avenue Armory, The Kitchen, and Roulette; as well as at festivals in Germany, Austria, Australia, Finland,Holland, Poland, and Cuba; and Portrait concerts at both the Mostly Mozart Festival and Spoleto Festival USA.Nathan has received commissions from ICE, Calder Quartet, Yarn/Wire, La Jolla Symphony Chorus, StevenSchick, Claire Chase, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Miller Theatre, and the Ojai Festival. He has received awards

from Meet the Composer, Fromm Foundation at Harvard, Copland Fund, Pew Center for Arts and Culture, JeromeFoundation, American Music Center, MATA, ASCAP, and a residency fellowship at the Camargo Foundation inCassis (France). He and Phyllis Chen won an NY Innovative Theater Award for their score to Sylvia Milo's playThe Other Mozart, for which Davis also received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Sound Design. CDsinclude “On the Nature of Thingness” (winner of Independent Music Awards for Best Contemporary ClassicalAlbum), “The Other Mozart,” and “The Bright and Hollow Sky.” As a percussionist, Nathan is a member of ICE, and has appeared as a concerto soloist with the Seattle Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, and the Nagoya Philharmonic. He holds degrees from Yale and Rice. www.nathandavis.com

PHYLLIS CHEN (COMPOSER)www.phyllischen.net

Praised by The New York Times for her “delightful quirkiness matched with interpretive sensitivity,” Phyllis is a pianist, toy pianist and a composer (Fromm commission recipient, New Music/New Places Fellow). In 2009,she was the featured solo musician in Stephin Merritt’s Off-Broadway musical Coraline. Phyllis is one of thefounding members of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), a Chicago and New York-based collectivededicated to the performance and promotion of new works. Phyllis also founded the UnCaged Toy Piano, acomposition competition to further expand the repertoire for toy piano and electronics. A strong interest in interdisciplinary work led her to collaborations with video artist and electronic musician Rob Dietz with whomshe created multimedia works such as The Memoirist, Pearlessence, Chroma and Carousel. Upcoming projects forthe duo include a micro-media toy piano opera commissioned by Opera Cabal. Phyllis attended Oberlin Conservatory as a recipient of the Dean’s Talent Award Scholarship and received a Masters Degree from Northwestern University as an Eckstein Merit Scholar. She is continuing to pursue her DMA in piano performanceat Indiana University where she studied with André Watts. Her piece Chimers based on Papageno’s magic bellsfrom Mozart’s Magic Flute was premiered at the Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival in 2011 and she wasone of the featured composers at the Mostly Mozart Festival 2013.

JANICE ORLANDI (CHOREOGRAPHER PERIOD STYLE)www.actorsmovementstudio.com

A movement and period style specialist, certified teacher of Williamson and Michael Chekhov Technique. Trainedand co-taught with mentors Loyd Williamson and Richard Schechner. Directing credits include: Bette Davis Ain’tfor Sissies (Five Stars at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, St. James Theatre Studio London UK; Theater Row, LaurieBeechman, The Triad Theater, 59E59 Theater in NYC), Garbo Dreams (Red Room NYC). Period Style Movement Choreographer: The Other Mozart (Cherry Lane Theatre “All for One” Festival, Berkshire Fringe Festival, Mozarthaus Sankt Gilgen, Austria) The Contrast (Mirror Repertory Company St Clements), An IdealHusband and Tartuffe (Sonnet Repertory NYC). Artistic Director Actors Movement Studio NYC, Faculty at TISCHSchool of the Arts, Atlantic Theater Company, Assistant Professor University of the Arts Philadelphia, MasonGross School of the Arts; Rutgers University, New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, State Theatre School inOdense, Denmark, and Ophelia Theatre School in Copenhagen; Lindenberg Centrum Voor de Kunsten, Netherlands;New York State Summer School of the Arts. Acting credits include: Nurse in Romeo and Juliet (Princeton ShakespeareFestival), Mama Elvira in The Young Lady From Tachna (Princeton Repertory), May Buchanan in Farther West (JudithAnderson Theater Row NYC), Niobi in Love of the Nightingale (Williamstown Theater Festival), and Janice Italian-American Reconciliation (Total Theater Lab NYC), among others. Founding Member of Expanded Arts & Shakespearein the Parking Lot in NYC.

MAGDALENA DBROWSKA (COSTUME DESIGNER – THE DRESS) www.innimoda.pl

A versatile Polish designer whose projects include fashion, theatrical costumes and set designs. A graduate of ŁazarskiUniversity in Warsaw and of the Cracow School of Art and Fashion Design. She teaches costume design at theActive Academy of Visual Arts and at the Warsaw School of Advertising. Her designs have been finalists at suchprestigious competitions as Oskary Mody, OFF Fashion, Złota Nitka and the International Millinery Competitionin France. She designed costumes for Taksówka, Spacerowicz and Ukryj Mnie w Gał ziach Drzew directed by IgorGorzkowski for Studio Teatralne KOŁO. She also designed the costumes and sets for, Obchód Teatru, Czyli KimJest Wojciech B.? at the National Theatre of Poland. Operas include “Hamlet” at the Teatr Wielki in Poznan,Poland. Together with Kajka Wo nicka, she launched an informal artistic group called HIHOT, whose projectsinclude urban happenings and photography. She also runs a design studio, INNI, that specializes in one-of-a-kind fashion and costume designs.

MIODRAG GUBERINIC (COSTUME DESIGNER – PANNIER/CORSET SCULPTURE)miodragguberinic.com

Miodrag graduated from Northwestern University in Chicago with an MFA in costume design. Recent designwork includes: The Maiden (La Mama Theater); Eurydice (LIU); Good Breeding (NYU); The Memory Tax (ChernuchinTheatre); Indigo Dai (Incubator Arts Project); Touch (The Hudson Guild Theater); The Other Mozart (Cherry LaneTheatre); King and I, Amhal and the Night Visitors, Lombardi, Steel Magnolias (Harbor Lights Theater); How Deep isthe Ocean (NYMF); Ghost Girl (The Workshop Theatre); Special (Theatre Row Studios); Where We Were Born and Animals Out of Paper (Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago). He received Norrenbroock Design Award from Northwestern University 2011 and The Merritt Award for the best Graduating exhibition from The GoodmanTheater in Chicago 2011.

JOSHUA ROSE (LIGHTING DESIGNER)www.joshuarosedesigns.com

A graduate of the stage design program at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, Joshua resides inNew York City and designs lighting for a variety of projects all over the world; from intimate solo shows to fulloperas, from architectural installations to modern dance. Some designs of note include The Edge of Some Worldchoreographed by Jonathan Fredrickson and premiered in Beijing; The Blue Frog Jazz Club in Mumbai; A Celebrationof Music and Dancewith The Limon Dance Company and Simon Bolivar National Youth Choir of Venezuela atLincoln Center. Recent Designs include Tar Baby by Desiree Burch and La Boheme for The Bronx Opera.

COURTNEY BEDNAROWSKI (HAIRSTYLIST)www.courtneybednarowski.carbonmade.com

Courtney Bednarowski is an emerging, young hairstylist residing in Brooklyn. Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she graduated from the Aveda Institute in 2007 and has since relocated to New York City to further herskill base and experience. After completing an assistant program at Mizu Salon, she decided to expand her skillsetinto barbering. Courtney now works at Freeman’s Barbershop in the Lower East Side focusing on men’s groomingand styling. In the four years she has been working as a professional, Courtney has styled for countless fashionevents, film and theater, print and online publications, and is now working for DIOR as the lead wig stylist.

ANNA SROKA (DRESS CONCEPT AND ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTION)www.annasroka.pl

An artist known for combining her talents as an actress, singer, and a director, Anna Sroka is a graduate of theTheater Academy in Warsaw, Poland. She has received awards from the Minister of Culture and Art, Przegl dPiosenki Aktorskiej, Wybrze e, ZASP (for her role in the play Taksówka by Igor Gorzkowski), Złota Maska (forher role in Rent, directed by Ingmar Villqist). She is part of the Olga Lipinska Cabaret, has performed the titularrole in the play PIAF directed by Jan Szurmieja, and she tours with the show Ale... i Nie Tylko (songs of EdithPiaf). Ulica, Która Płyn Moje Obie Dłonie is her authored play, written to the songs of Zygmunt Konieczny andAndrzej Zarycki. Anna Sroka teaches song interpretation at ZPSM and in Wy sza Szkola Komunikowania iMediów Społecznych in Warsaw in the acting department. She directed CooLos at ZPSM in Warsaw and worksregularly with Teatr Polonia, Teatr Studio, Teatr Ochota, Studio Teatralne Koło, Teatr Nova Scena Teatru Roma,Teatr Montownia, and Teatr Rozrywki. Soon she is releasing her CD Dziwny Owoc of songs by Billie Holiday,with Włodzimierz Nahorny.

SAMANTHA HOEFER (ALTERNATE ACTRESS)

Samantha Hoefer grew up in Hamburg, Germany and was part of the Task acting school, where she studiedunder Andreas Mohrhagen. Upon graduation she traveled to France and worked at the Theatre Chaudron inParis. At the prestigious Thalia Theatre in Hamburg she performed in Judasevange-lium directed by the famedHungarian film director Kornel Mundruczo (Delta and White God), in Reckless by Cornelia Funke directed byMarco Storman, and worked with Alia Luque on Blind Date, adapted from the movie by Stanley Tucci. In hershort time in New York Samantha starred as the lead in The Curious Savage and Six Degrees of Separation at theStudio Theatre, she co-wrote and starred in NowhereNowHere— a play directed by John Gould Rubin and KatYen at the Theatre Lab, in Little Wars— written and directed by Steven Carl McCasland at the Clarion Theatre,and at the Theatre for the New City in The New Trial— by Peter Weiss directed by Dennis Yueh-Yeh Li. She isfluent in four languages and next will bring this Mozart’s story back to Europe in Nannerl’s mother tongue.

DANIELA GALLI (ALTERNATE ACTRESS)

Daniela Galli began her artistic path through dance and music in her native Brazil. She was a member of modernand tap dance companies and played the oboe at the Symphonic Orchestra of Campinas. She later graduatedin Architecture and Urban Planning and worked as a set designer off-Broadway and as an associate designer toTony Walton on Broadway. She studied acting at HB Studios and since 2006 is back in Brazil acting in theatre,film and television. Recent credits include: FILM –My Hindu Friend, directed by Hector Babenco, opposite WillemDafoe, The American Side, by Jenna Ricker, starring Greg Stuhr and Matthew Broderick, Chlorine, by MarceloGabrowsky, Tragédia da Rua das Flores, directed by Ivan Zettel; THEATRE – Ciranda, by Celia Forte and directedby José Possi Neto, Realismo, by Anthony Neilson and directed by Tato Consorti, PLAY – by Rodrigo Nogueiraand directed by Ivan Sugahara; TV – Plano Alto (nominated to Contigo Award for best actress in a TV series),Mandrake (HBO) and other series for TV Globo and Record. She speaks Portuguese, English, Italian, Dutch andSpanish, and will produce and perform The Other Mozart in Brazil.

The Other Mozartwritten and performed by Sylvia Milo

Review Comments

“With an emotional precision that captures and rewards attentionthroughout, Milo rescues Nannerl’s genius from the historicalshadow of her brother’s.The joint creation of costume designersMagdalena Dbrowska and Miodrag Guberinic, the dress isworthy of a gallery installation all its own.” THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

“Ms. Milo’s interpretation of Nannerl shines with a gossamertouch, melding from drama to what can also be described asperformance art.” BROADWAY WORLD

“…dazzling, multi-sensory solo performance.” L.A. TIMES CRITICS CHOICE

“This is a gem of a show…beautifully designed… [Milo’s] facegleams with passion for the story of Nannerl, whom she becomes — clever, witty, frustrated, sometimes hysterical.” THE STAGE (LONDON)

“…fascinating…dreamlike…an arresting depiction” LONDONIST

“Milo has crafted a version of Nannerl’s experiences with heartbreaking compassion for the artist she might have been.” HUFFINGTON POST

“The Other Mozart is the most dynamic, theatrical, and movingone woman show I have ever seen… breathtaking 18-footdress…extraordinarily vivid and emotive soundscape… Thisshow is the height of theatrical achievement. …you simplymust see this production.” THEATER IS EASY

“Beautifully written… As Nannerl, Milo is immensely graceful,thoughtful, focused… The actress makes her character’s experience immediate and visceral… Characterization of Nannerl is immensely appealing. Pace couldn’t be better; wewitness thinking… I can’t sufficiently praise the concept andmanifestation of the dress… Original Music by Nathan Davisand Phyllis Chen is rich and evocative. Sounds create metallicabrasion, out of sync clockwork, an automaton, a music box.” WOMAN AROUND TOWN

“This is a very special night of theatre, not to be missed by anyone even remotely interested in seeing a great performance.There is nothing quite like it available anywhere else. RubiconTheatre brings in an original production that ran so successfullyin New York and London and now tours internationally. 805 SOCIETY EIGHT 0 FIVE(SANTA BARBARA/VENTURA COUNTY)

“…fascinating and irresistibly intelligent… Frenetic tremolo of aharpsichord becomes the fluttering of a fan… It is beautiful.” THEATERMANIA

“Sylvia Milo’s luscious depiction…eschews the dreaded bio-adaptation problem…with class and evocative energy…gracefulsophistication…a surprisingly deep and penetrating analysis ofthe life of Wolfgang’s older sister… She sometimes resemblesthe dancing girl in the center of a music box, an impression that’sunderscored by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen’s tinkling score.” STAGE AND CINEMA (NYC)

“Milo expresses Nannerl’s musical creativity and stunted dreamsin a vibrant performance” SAN ANTONIO CURRENT

“One of the most remarkable theatric presentations… SylviaMilo has brought off a tour de force in creating such an absorb-ing, intelligent, and sure-footed entertainment…brilliant andabsorbing.” NEW YORK ARTS

“…a must see masterpiece. Sylvia Milo gives an astonishinglybrilliant performance…a pure pleasure on every level. OFF-BROADWAY- ELECTRONIC LINK JOURNEY

“a fascinating and intelligent performance, featuring a stunning18-foot gown with exterior corset, representative of the socialrestrictions in which Nannerl was captiveBILTMORE BEACON, ASHEVILLE, NC

“The massive amount of research Milo has done for this project is astounding. The facts of this woman’s life are trulyfascinating. (...) fiercely talented director, Isaac Byrne (...) one of the most stunning stage pictures I’ve seen in years.”THEATER PIZZAZZ (NYC)

THEATER | THEATER REVIEW

A Sibling Rivalry Played Out Over Keyboards‘The Other Mozart’ at Here Arts Center

The Other Mozart | Off Broadway, Classical, Play | HERE, 145 Sixth Ave. 212-647-0202

By LAURA COLLINS-HUGHES JUNE 30, 2014

“Do you know what it says on my gravestone?” the womanasks. “ ‘Maria Anna von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg. The sisterof Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.’ ”

Poor Maria Anna. Do you suppose she knows that Wolfie,her little brother, is the reason she piqued our interest?Even in the decidedly feminist solo show “The OtherMozart,” at Here — written and performed by Sylvia Milo —the story of the thwarted, forgotten sister is inextricablefrom that of her sibling.

As touring prodigies on the 18th-century European concertstage, the Mozart children started out together, whisked fromcity to city by their ambitious father, Leopold. Eventually,Maria Anna, nicknamed Nannerl, was left at home — notfor lack of talent at the keyboard, she tells us, but becauseher parents worried that continuing to perform in publicwould damage her marriage prospects. “Music will alwaysbe your ornament,” her mother says, and the daughter’sworld grows smaller.

The notion of feminine ornamentation is central to “The OtherMozart,” directed by Isaac Byrne and presented by Here and Little Matchstick Factory. Fanned out in a wide circleon the black stage is a voluminous ivory skirt (designed byMagdalena Dabrowska), so heavy with layers and folds thatit could drag any woman down. Perched atop it, as sculpturaland constricting as a bird cage, is a corset attached to panniers (designed by Miodrag Guberinic), hoops thatwiden the silhouette at the hips.

It’s not subtle, this embodiment of Ms. Milo’s thesis, but itis strikingly beautiful.

Under a billowed cloud of Marie Antoinette hair (designedby Courtney Bednarowski), Ms. Milo’s Nannerl is charmingand funny, a gamin once more, as she recalls young Wolfieand her early triumphs over him. Remembering the freedomand power of playing onstage, she is joyous.

Music by father and son wafts through the show, alongsideoriginal music by Nathan Davis — who is also responsiblefor the excellent sound design — and Phyllis Chen. Nannerlcomposed, too, but her work has been lost.

Ultimately, the story Ms. Milo tells is a bitter one. “The OtherMozart” draws on Mozart family letters, and Leopold andWolfgang had plenty to write home about. “Nobody saved myletters,” Nannerl says. “There was nothing interesting inthem.”

Ms. Milo has a balletic grace, and it’s easy to imagine herslender hands at the keys of a clavichord. But Nannerl’s uneventful life, unjust though it may have been, is a dramaturgical liability. The show becomes a sad what-if.

“Could it have been mine?” Nannerl wonders, gazing at herbrother’s success. “Could — even a little of it — have beenmine?”

“THE OTHER MOZART” CONTINUES THROUGH JULY 12 AT HERE,145 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, AT DOMINICK STREET, SOUTHVILLAGE; 212-352-3101, HERE.ORG.

Sylvia Milo in “The Other Mozart.” CREDIT CHARLOTTE DOBRE

NEW YORK ARTSThe Other Mozart, written and acted by Sylvia Milo — at the HERE Arts Center, NYC, June 22 – July 12, and the Monomaffia Festival in Estonia

by Richard Miller

THE OTHER MOZART Sylvia Milo, Project Creator, Writer, ActressDirector – Isaac ByrneComposer, Sound Designer – Nathan DavisComposer – Phyllis ChenCostume Designer (the dress) – Magdalena D browska

Costume Designer (panier/corset sculpture)– Miodrag Guberinic

Period Style Choreographer – Janice OrlandiLighting Designer – Joshua RoseHairstylist – Courtney BednarowskiOriginal concept first developed by Sylvia Milo and Anna Sroka

Understudy: Julia Rosa Stöckl — will perform Sun, June 22 at 4 pm; Sat, June 28 at 4 pm; Sun, June 29 at 8:30pm; Sat, July 5 at 4 pm; Sun, July 6 at8:30 pm; and Sat, July 12 at 4 pm.

Presented atHERE Arts Center145 6th Avenue, NYC June 22 – July 12Tickets: www.here.org or 212-352-3101and earlier at the All for One Solo The-ater Festival on October 12, 19, 26, and27, 2012

One of the most remarkable theatricalpresentations I saw in 2013, continuingon at various theaters in the UnitedStates and Europe, is Sylvia Milo’s TheOther Mozart, a rich one-woman playshe has conceived, written, and playsin, about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’ssister Anna Maria, or Nannerl, as shewas known in the family. Today it iseasiest to identify her as “Mozart’s sister,” since even specialists know hermainly as one of the composer’s closestconfidantes and correspondents. Theyshared parents, provincial Salzburg,travels, musical gifts, and scatologicalhumor. While “Wolfi,” as she calls him,went to Vienna to seek his fortune inthe odd limbo between musical servant,entrepreneur, and stable employment,at least in a preliminary form—which is what was available to him at thetime, she accepted the conventionalprescriptions of her father. A childprodigy at the keyboard, her musicalscope became severely limited onceshe reached marriageable age. Musicbecame an ornament rather than a profession for her; she had to learnhousekeeping—all to attract a hus-band. At the late age of thirty-three,she was finally married to a husbandchosen for her by father Leopold andlost whatever was left of her continually diminishing self-determination.

Obviously a play about Nannerl will alsofeature Wolfi to a considerable extent,and creative works based on prominent

musical figures, I have found, is dangerous. Peter Schaffer’s pastiche ofPushkin’s Mozart and Salieri certainlydoes little to raise the level of the endless flow of novels, plays, and filmsabout the great composers. (RichardWagner, oddly enough, proved an exception, perhaps because he was forGermans a national figure like Custer orLincoln, or perhaps because he was sotheatrical in life.) Sylvia Milo has broughtoff a tour de force in creating such anabsorbing, intelligent, and sure-footedentertainment on such a subject.

Wolfgang, however large he may loomin the play, remains secondary to Nannerl’s narrative perspective andfeelings. He appears at second hand,filtered by her perception, reflected inthe mirror she holds up to the audience.In this mirror we hear things rather thansee them: we hear Wolfi as a smallchild, forcing his way to the keyboardby letting out a big “waaa” (at an olderage Nannerl was told that she’d ruinher technique, because her fingerswere too small); we hear his fart andshit jokes (a source of amusement toNannerl); we hear his exchanges withKonstanze, when, leaving their firstbaby with a wet nurse, they travel toSalzburg to meet the family (a sourceof irritation and astonishment to all).After the family go their separateways, Wolfgang back to Vienna, neverto return to Salzburg, Nannerl up intothe mountain town of Sankt Gilgen toher virtual incarceration with her hus-

SylviaMilo asNannerlMozart

band, the Reichsfreiherr Johann BaptistBerchtold zu Sonnenburg, we hear lessfrom Wolfgang directly, and more ofhis struggles in Vienna, professionaland financial. The expectation was thatWolfgang would enjoy his due successin Vienna and that he would eventuallybring his family there. This was slowcoming, and just as he almost had it inhis hand, he died. Even before this thefamily dissolved. Leopold died. The distances between Salzburg, Vienna,and Sankt Gilgen proved too great forNannerl to visit Wolfgang or for hereven to visit one of her children, whowas sent to Salzburg.

What a contrast from the beginning ofher life! While she was still a child orearly adolescent, she could travelthrough Europe as a prodigy withLeopold and Wolfgang—and her consid-erable talents at the keyboard met withserious recognition. She could visit culturedcities, study the fashions and adoptthem, and enjoy the limelight as a virtuosa. That came to an end whenshe turned eighteen, and from then onshe could only participate through theletters she received from Wolfgang,who took over as the family genius.

One of the many impressive aspects of Sylvia Milo’s play is the sense of geographical space it conveys. Whenthe young prodigies were touring withtheir father, who seemed to have aknack as an impresario, Europe barelyseemed large enough for them, butwhen Nannerl reaches marriageableage, her world shrank pitifully. EvenMunich was too far away, and so wasVienna. Eventually she heads off toSankt Gilgen with her husband and aclavichord, which is kept in a small, unheated back room, where the stringsbroke, and Nannerl had to play to herself in silence.

My account may sound a trifle pathetic,but that is not the way Milo portraysher. Milo’s Nannerl is a woman ofspirit, dignity, and self-awareness in relation to her talents, and the toneshe strikes is just the right mixture ofmarzipan and vinegar. Her fondnessand admiration for her brother are sincere, although balanced by sisterlyresentment. He remains a raucous “little shit-eater.”

When the lights first come up on Nannerl, she is surrounded by an enormous white dress. Her paleness,her piled white hair, resembling aPerücke, and the expansive surf of her skirts around her give her the semblance of a ghost. At first there isno temporal specificity, only the aspectof eighteenth-century fashions, mostlikely long passed by. Critical praisequoted by Nannerl give us a flash ofher playing at the age of six, then attwelve. She is called a new Saint Cecilia.She lives in Vienna and travels to Paris,Munich, London, Florence, Venice, andRome. Then she bursts the bubble. The praise was actually for her brother,Wolfgang. But she can quote an Augsburg critic on her playing at eleven:“…Imagine an eleven-year-old girl, performing the most difficult sonatasand concertos of the greatest composers,on the harpsichord or fortepiano, withprecision, with incredible lightness,with impeccable taste. It was a sourceof wonder to many.”

Milo’s text expands in short sentencesloosely arranged in narrative clusters,accompanied by her music on a toypiano, a music box, and unearthlysounds, mostly not Wolfgang’s, createdby ICE composers Phyllis Chen andNathan Davis. The ghostly fluidity ofthe language, in which themes likeSaint Cecilia, float by in recurrence, ismost beautifully timed and shaped. It

is like some dreamy recollection of adistant time. The folds of Nannerl’sskirts hold numerous memorabilia, letters, and scores. She can reach forthem and contemplate them, as theirmoments emerge from the past anddisappear. The rich lighting effects byJoshua Rose enhance this feeling ofshifting perspectives in time. Nannerlherself, with her exotic skirts, bodice,corset, and hair seems distant in relation to us, even indeterminate, as if she were speaking to use from somesort of limbo. On the other hand, as we listen to her reminiscences our relationship to her becomes direct andintimate. Nannerl, after all, as aMozart, does not stand on ceremony.

The costumes and hair, which are bothseductive and disturbing, (MagdalenaDbrowska, Miodrag Guberinic, CourtneyBednarowski), the eloquent lighting(Joshua Rose), the sophisticated andwell-judged score, the sureness of thedirection (Isaac Byrne) all show thatThe Other Mozart is the work of a carefully chosen and finely coordinatedteam. Nonetheless, the imagination behind this unique theater work isSylvia Milo’s, who also credits her com-patriot, Anna Sroka, as a collaboratorin developing the original idea.

A production of the All for One SoloTheater Festival, it proved one of themost brilliant and absorbing solo productions of 2013, and it will continue at other venues in 2014 andbeyond.

The longer run at the HERE Arts Centerafter an eight to nine months break,during which Ms. Milo made some revisions and developed her perform-ance further brought the show up to aneven higher level. The nuance in heracting, which balanced a Central Euro-pean wistfulness against the sharp re-

sentment of a neglected elder sister fora brilliant, pampered younger brother,whom she loves dearly in spite of it all,grew to an exalted plane of expressionand elegance we associate with thegreat actresses of the pre- and post-warperiod. Apart from her multi-facetedcreativity in her own play, she clearlyhas an important career ahead of her.The HERE Arts Center offered some sig-nificant technical advantages over the atmospheric Cherry Lane Theater,above all a superior sound system, sothat the very beautiful and absorbingscore by Nathan Davis and PhyllisChen — an integral, important part ofthe production — could be heard to full advantage.

The Other Mozart later moved on tothe Monomaffia solo theater initiativeof the Pärnu International Theatre Festival in Estonia, as well as Munich.

The Costume

REVIEWS

The Other MozartSylvia Milo tells the story of WolfgangAmadeus Mozart's equally talented (and internationally ignored) older sister.Zachary Stewart • New York City • Jun 25, 2014

Most people are familiar with the story of Wolfgang AmadeusMozart, the 18th-century Austrian child prodigy who playedbefore the crowned heads of Europe and went on to composean astounding canon of work in his relatively short life-span, much of which is still popular today. Far fewerknow that in his earliest tours, he took second billing to his older sister, Marianne, who was a virtuoso in herown right. Writer and performer Sylvia Milo illuminates that relatively unknown story with her fascinatingand irresistibly intelligent one-woman show, The Other Mozart, now making its New York premiere at HEREArts Center.

Marianne, or Nannerl as her family knew her, was eight when she began taking harpsichord lessons from herJoe Jackson-like father, Leopold. Her three-year-old brother, Wolfgang, joined in the lessons, even thoughLeopold never allowed Nannerl to play at such a young age. Soon, the two wunderkinder were touring Europeas a double act. Yet once Nannerl was of marrying age, she was kept at home, while Wolfgang continued toperform. She eventually married a lesser nobleman and went on to live a long life in relative obscurity. Meanwhile, her brother flamed out spectacularly, but went on to be known as one of the greatest composerswho ever lived.

Nannerl had her own aspiration to compose, but her parents discouraged it, considering the activity unladylike. (The violin was also off limits for girls.) Milo captures her frustrated talent in a convincing andauthentic performance. Her exasperation is compounded by a didactic father, a fussbudget mother, and aridiculously frivolous brother (whom many will recognize from Peter Shaffer's Amadeus). Milo gives voice to all of them. One is left wondering how their lives would have been different if Nannerl had the same opportunities as Wolfgang.

Interest in Nannerl has increased over the past decade; she has become the subject of several novels as well as a highly fictionalized film. Milo mostly sticks to the facts here. She has painstakingly researched the subject,drawing much of her text from the Mozart family letters. While Nannerl preserved almost all the letters herbrother and father sent to her while on tour (providing an invaluable source of the knowledge we have ofW.A. Mozart today), the two men didn't return the favor. "Nobody saved my letters," she shares matter-of-factly, in a moment more telling and heartbreaking than any other in the play.

Milo fills in the gaps left by these absent letters with historical context, which she excels in making frighteninglyreal. This is not merely a world of rococo concert halls and ridiculously coiffed hair. Milo provides lurid

Sylvia Milo wrote and stars in The Other Mozart,directed by Isaac Byrne, at HERE Arts Center.(© Charlotte Dobre)

detail about the illness and death that lurked around every corner in 18th-century Europe, noting Nannerl'snear death while on tour in London and her mother's untimely passing in Paris.

She also gives us harsh perspective on the prevailing misogyny of the day: "For a woman to aim at the sublimemakes her merely ridiculous...and even worse, loathsome. She is an unbeautiful, unnatural freak who is disobeying nature and aping the genius of the male — who is her lord and master," she quotes from ImmanuelKant. A similar quote from Rousseau is not much better. If these two unapologetic sexists represented thecutting edge of "enlightened" thought in Nannerl's day, what chance did a girl have?

Still, Milo endows her subject with an irrepressible spirit that makes you root for her and hope for a betteroutcome. (And since we're so unfamiliar with her story in the first place, we feel that it might actually happen.)Director Isaac Byrne milks the suspense throughout, heightening it with an ever-present musical underscoring.Real work by the Mozarts meld into original compositions by Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen: The frenetictremolo of a harpsichord becomes the fluttering of a fan; the breaking of strings accompanies Nannerl lacinginto a constrictive corset.

Milo performs the entire piece in her bloomers while prancing around a giant period dress that occupies theentire stage. Magdalena Dąbrowska and Miodrag Guberinic have constructed this one killer installation thatis both a costume and set piece. It is made of the hundreds of letters the Mozarts exchanged over the yearsand it is beautiful. Throughout the play, Milo pulls little props from hidden nooks and crannies. Eventually,she puts the dress on, rendering her unable to move. It is an incredibly effective (if on the nose) metaphor forthe societal constraint that governed Nannerl's life.

Still, very little is obvious about this play. At a brisk 75 minutes, The Other Mozart is full of surprises all theway to the end.

“Iam writing to you with an erection on my head and I am very much afraid of burning my hair”,wrote Nannerl Mozart to her brother Wolfgang Amadeus. What was being erected was a largehairdo on top of Nannerl’s head, as she prepared to pose for the Mozart family portrait.

It was that hairdo that drew my attention. Nine years ago I was visiting Vienna for the 250th birthday celebrations of Wolfgang Amadeus, and I was thrilled to explore the city following inWolfi’s footsteps, many of which turned out to be Nannerl’s as well. At the Mozarthaus Vienna —Wolfgang’s apartment — on the exit wall, as if by an afterthought, there was a little copy of theMozart family portrait. I saw a woman seated at the harpsichord next to Wolfgang, their hands in-tertwined, playing together.

I grew up studying to become a violinist. Neither my music history nor my repertoire included any female composers. With my braided hair I was called “little Mozart” by my violin teacher, but he meant Wolfi. I never heard that Amadeus had a sister. I never heard of Nannerl Mozart until I sawthat family portrait.

Classical music The lost genius of Mozart’s sisterNannerl Mozart was a child prodigy like her brother Wolfgang Amadeus, but her musical career came to an end when she was 18. A one-woman play puts her back on the stage, where she belongs

Mozart family portrait by Johann Nepomuk della Croce

SHARES: 22k

Sylvia MiloTuesday 8 September 2015 09.54 EDT

I was intrigued and determined to find out more. I read Wolfgang Mozart biographies, studied thesituation of women and female artists during Mozarts’ time and in different countries, read writingsof Enlightenment philosophers, conduct manuals … But the richest source of information camefrom the Mozart family letters. There are hundreds, and we have them because Nannerl preservedthem. Most are written by Leopold and Wolfgang but some of Nannerl’s letters survived as well.Through these letters, sometimes only from the replies to her lost letters, Nannerl slowly emerged.I was able to understand the Mozarts as people, as a family, and through the lens of the times andthe social situation in which they lived. I saw Nannerl’s potential, her dreams, her strength, graceand her fight.

Maria Anna (called Marianne and nicknamed Nannerl) was — like her younger brother — a childprodigy. The children toured most of Europe (including an 18-month stay in London in 1764-5)performing together as “wunderkinder”. There are contemporaneous reviews praising Nannerl, andshe was even billed first. Until she turned 18. A little girl could perform and tour, but a womandoing so risked her reputation. And so she was left behind in Salzburg, and her father only tookWolfgang on their next journeys around the courts of Europe. Nannerl never toured again.

But the woman I found did not give up. She wrote music and sent at least one composition toWolfgang and Papa — Wolfgang praised it as “beautiful” and encouraged her to write more. Her father didn’t, as far as we know, say anything about it.

Did she stop? None of her music has survived. Perhaps she never showed it to anybody again, perhaps she destroyed it, maybe we will find it one day, maybe we already did but it’s wrongly attributed to her brother’s hand. Composing or performing music was not encouraged for womenof her time. Wolfgang repeatedly wrote that nobody played his keyboard music as well as shecould, and Leopold described her as “one of the most skilful players in Europe”, with “perfect in-sight into harmony and modulations” and that she improvises “so successfully that you would beastounded”.

Like Virginia Woolf’s imagined Shakespeare’s sister, Nannerl was not given the opportunity to thrive.And what she did create was not valued or preserved — most female composers from the past have

Sylvia Milo as Nannerl Mozart in The Other Mozart

been forgotten, their music lost or gathering dust in libraries. We will never know what could havebeen, and this is our loss.

Director Isaac Byrne and I searched for the ghost of Nannerl, and the story she needed to tell in myone-woman play. Period-style movement transports us to the Mozarts’ time using delicate gestures,court bows and curtsies, and the language of fans.

Sylvia Milo in The Other Mozart.

To create the 18th-century world of opulence and of restriction, the set became an enormous dresswhich spills over the entire stage (designed by Magdalena Dabrowska), with a corset/panniers cageon top. Finally the hair stands as tall as Nannerl’s, after we found the right hairspray to hold it allup-up-up — and yes, it is all my own hair.

Creating music for the show was down to two composers, Nathan Davis and Phyllis Chen, whochose, rather than to try to re-create Nannerl’s compositions, to portray her musical imagination,using the sounds she would have had in her ears: the fluttering of fans, tea cups, music boxes,bells, clavichords.

I’ve been touring The Other Mozart for the last two Iyears: this month marks its 100th perform-ance, how fitting that it will take place just a few steps away from where Nannerl performed inLondon as a girl.

It has been a long journey to bring Nannerl back to England after an absence of 250 years. I sometimes feel like Leopold Mozart — on a quest to show the world this brilliant Mozart.

� The Other Mozart is at St James Studio, London, from 8–19 September. Box office: 0844 264 2140.

AWARDS

NEW YORK INNOVATIVE THEATRE AWARDOUTSTANDING SOLO PERFORMANCE- Sylvia MiloOUTSTANDING MUSIC PERFORMANCE - Phyllis Chen & Nathan Davis

DRAMA DESK AWARDSNomination for BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A PLAY

OFF BROADWAY ALLIANCE AWARDNomination for BEST SOLO PERFORMANCE

TOURING HISTORYTHE OTHER MOZART had a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run inNYC and in London at St. James Theater. The play was presented in Austria,in Salzburg, at the invitation of the Mozarteum Foundation — at the MozartWohnhaus (inside the Mozarts’ apartment) — and by the Mozarteum University, as part of the now annual Symposium on Nannerl Mozart, whichthe play inspired into creation. In Germany at the Pasinger Fabrik in Munich,and in Estonia, Tyrol and at the University of Toronto, Canada. The play hastoured extensively in the US, in theatres and at classical music festivals, including: Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego (selling out the 1000-seat Balboa Theatre), in Houston, TX at MATCH, at the University of the Southin Sewanee, TN, NC StateUniversity in Raleigh, NC, at the University ofPittsburgh Bradford in PA, the Tobin Center in San Antonio, TX, the KravisCenter in Palm Beach, FL. In 2016 the play was presented at the MozarthausVienna — Wolfgang’s Viennese apartment now museum.

The Other Mozartwritten and performed by Sylvia Milo

2017- Spring 2018Washington & Lee University, VAUniversity of Albany, NYThe Diana Wortham Theater, NCBluffton University, OHFermilab, ILEisemann Center, TXBarkley Theatre, NVTobin Center, TXRubicon Theatre, CA (5 week run)Northwest Chamber Orchestra, ORInternational House, NYCRaritan College, NJRhode Island College RIUniversity of FL, GainesvilleThe Players Theatre, NYCTexas Tech, Lubbock TXOklahoma Contemporary Museum, OKSouth Miami Dade Performing Arts

Center, FLViennaGermany

UPDATESylvia Milo and composer NathanDavis, have been awarded a residenceby The Bogliasco Foundation inItaly to develop a new work. Theplay will be further developed andsubsequently produced for the publicat The Baryshnikov Arts Centerin New York