Mozart's sister lives

Image | Sylvia Milo

Caption: Actress Sylvia Milo plays Maria Anna Mozart, also known as Nannerl, in "The Other Mozart" (Daniel Murtagh)

Audio | Sunday Edition : The Other Mozart

Open Full Embed in New Tab (external link)Loading external pages may require significantly more data usage.
The divas of the 70s, the pinups and pop stars of the 1980s had great big hair. But they had nothing on Maria Anna Mozart.
Her 18th century beehive went up for miles.
​And her prodigious musical talent went even further.

Image | Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart (and her big hair)

Caption: Maria Anna, Wolfgang Amadeus and father Leopold Mozart. (Johann Nepomuk della Croce, c 1780-81) (Wikimedia Commons)

Maria Anna was known as Nannerl to her family.
Her little brother Wolfgang, a cheeky lad with a scatalogical bent, was one of the greatest composers who ever lived.

Image | prodigies Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791

Caption: 1765: Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) at the keyboard at the age of 9. Original Artwork: Painting by J N Helbling at the Mozarteum, Salzburg. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (Hulton Archive/Getty)

Things didn't work out so well for Nannerl.
Felix Mendelssohn had a big sister, Fanny; she composed. Clara Schuman, wife of Robert, was a much-lauded performer.
But Nannerl Mozart lies under a tombstone in Salzburg that simply says -- sister of Wolfgang Amadeus.
Chances are you have never heard of her.
A few years ago, neither had Sylvia Milo. She's a Polish-born pianist and actor now living in New York. Milo has written, and stars in, a one-woman show called The Other Mozart. Karin Wells went to see a recent production at the University of Toronto Drama Centre.
Karin's documentary, "Mozart's Sister", first aired in March.