Award-winning Sydney composer Jessica Wells discusses the Maria Anna Mozart Tour, female composers, storytelling through music and what's next.
Most people know the name Mozart.
Far fewer know Maria Anna Mozart.
Known as "Nannerl" to her family, she was once considered one of Europe's finest keyboard players. As a child, she toured alongside her younger brother Wolfgang, performing for royalty and receiving top billing. Yet while history immortalised him as one of the world's greatest composers, Nannerl's musical career came to an abrupt end at just 16 years old because she was a woman.
It's this remarkable story that Sydney composer Jessica Wells is helping bring back into the spotlight through the Maria Anna Mozart Tour, a unique concert experience that combines live orchestral performance, film, narration and original music.
Bringing Nannerl's Story to Life
Audiences attending the tour can expect an immersive experience unlike a traditional orchestral concert. Visuals from the documentary Mozart's Sister are projected behind the orchestra while a live narrator guides audiences through Nannerl's extraordinary life.
"The story investigates her prodigious talent at the keyboard, her childhood tour of Europe to play for dignitaries and receiving top billing, her devastating retirement from performing at age 16 due to societal constraints on women, and her potential as a composer derived from letters written between her and her brother," Wells explains.
The result is a powerful exploration of both one woman's life and the broader challenges faced by generations of female artists.
Why Nannerl Still Matters
Wells first became involved with the story through the 2024 documentary produced by Australian company Media Stockade. What fascinated the filmmakers – and later Wells herself – was a simple question: why do so few people know anything about Maria Anna Mozart despite her extraordinary abilities?
While the documentary examines the inequities of the 18th century, Wells believes the conversation remains relevant today.
"The current statistics around female and gender-diverse composers are still challenged to this day," she says. "Why are we still not hearing music by women in many concert halls around the globe?"
It's a question Wells has spent much of her own career confronting. Having entered the industry in the 1990s, she has witnessed significant progress but says meaningful change has only accelerated in the past 15 years.
"It has never been better for women composers," she says. "Real change has started to happen thanks to awareness and a push to challenge commissioning percentages by ensembles, radio quotas, board positions and many areas where women were finding glass ceilings."
A Personal Connection
Nannerl's story resonates deeply with Wells for another reason.
In 2025, she won the AACTA Award for Best Original Score in a Documentary for her work on Mozart's Sister. During her acceptance speech, she reflected on the parallels she saw between her own journey and Nannerl's.
"After a long time being unnoticed, Maria Anna Mozart finally came back to the stage to perform at age 50," she says.
At age 50 herself, Wells was receiving her first major award after decades of composing and performing.
"Nannerl never gave up, and neither did I."
Reimagining Musical History
At the centre of the concert is Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E-flat, K16, a work traditionally credited solely to Wolfgang Mozart. However, the tour presents a compelling argument that Nannerl's contribution has been overlooked.
For the first time, the piece is being performed with Maria Anna Mozart's name appearing alongside her brother's at the top of the score.
When the symphony was written, Nannerl was 13 years old and Wolfgang was only eight.
"She surely didn't just write it all down from her younger brother's instructions," Wells says. "She was a collaborator and an orchestrator and deserves to be recognised as a co-composer of the work."
Wells' original score also incorporates subtle references to Mozart's music while embracing modern film-scoring techniques. One particularly moving challenge involved imagining a piece that Nannerl herself might have written later in life, reflecting on the death of her brother and the career she was forced to leave behind.
The Power of Storytelling
Whether composing for film, ballet or the concert hall, storytelling remains at the heart of Wells' work.
"Storytelling is absolutely key when working in the screen music medium," she says. "Music underpins the action and leads the audience through their thought processes as they discover what the themes of the film are."
Last year she composed Butterfly Effect for West Australian Ballet, continuing a career built around bringing stories to life through music.
"Bringing to life a story on stage or on film or in a concert work is basically what I've devoted my life to."
Inspiring the Next Generation
The Maria Anna Mozart Tour also sees Wells working closely with Sydney Youth Orchestras, a partnership she describes as incredibly rewarding.
The students spend an entire term preparing the score, taking on a production that differs significantly from a traditional orchestral performance.
"I know that they will be buzzing with anticipation to present this on stage," she says.
Wells hopes audiences leave not only moved by Nannerl's story but inspired to seek out more music by female composers.
Many already have.
"Students and conductors and audience members are now looking for more amazing works by female composers to listen to."
What's Next?
While audiences continue to discover the story of Maria Anna Mozart, Wells is already preparing for another major Sydney moment.
She has recently announced that she is composing the music for the City of Sydney's New Year's Eve Midnight Fireworks celebration. The 12-minute orchestral work will be recorded by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and will accompany one of the city's most iconic annual events.
For Wells, it's another exciting chapter in a career built on perseverance, creativity and storytelling.
And thanks to the Maria Anna Mozart Tour, she's helping ensure that one remarkable woman from history finally receives some of the recognition she deserves.