The extraordinary story of the rise of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is told in new OU/BBC co-production Mozart: Rise of a Genius broadcast on BBCTwo over three episodes from 16 September, and available on iPlayer.

Featuring re-enactments, the series explores the life of one of the greatest composers in history and  his early emergence as 'the musical genius', examining how his relationships and experiences influenced his work.

OU Music academics have created supporting content exploring Mozart’s compositions and the music of his time. Senior Lecturer and Head of Discipline Dr Naomi Barker is a musicologist researching late 16^th and 17^th century music, and a performer specialising in 18^th century music. Senior Lecturer Dr Helen Coffey is a musicologist specialising in music from German and Austrian cities from the 16^th to 18^th centuries. Together, with the OU creative technology content team, they created an interactive educational “show” exploring Mozart’s brilliance – such as the jokes in his horn concerto.

Naomi and Helen produced a ‘must-listen’ playlist to accompany the video demonstrating Mozart’s expertise in composing concertos, with the show exploring the music of Mozart’s world from the instruments used to the genres of music played, and the philosophy behind it all.

Naomi said “We have an animated graphic that explains some technical details about the structure of Mozart’s piano concertos using a recording by our learning partner, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE).

“And there are links through to videos from the OAE that provide accurate information and great performances.”

Learn more about Mozart’s musical world and experience the interactive content at OU Connect.

Image insert: (c) Balazs Glodi / 72 Films Ltd