Matt Beynon Rees's Biography

MOZART'S LAST ARIA (UK, May 2011; US, Fall 2011): The long wait for a successor to "Amadeus" is over! Nannerl Mozart is living a dull, loveless life with her husband in a remote village near Salzburg in 1791 when she learns of the premature death of her brother, the great composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As children, they were musical prodigies who performed in the great palaces of Europe, but they’ve been estranged for years. Nannerl becomes suspicious about the cause of her brother’s death. Feeling guilty about their separation, she travels to Vienna where many of Wolfgang’s friends are scared to talk to her about his demise. Nannerl picks up clues linking Wolfgang to the Freemasons, who operate underground because of a ban by the Emperor. She also discovers an espionage ring run by the Prussian King which may involve her brother, and a scandalous affair with one of his pupils. Wolfgang’s patron Baron van Swieten aids her search for the truth, but she also faces opposition from the Emperor’s secret police. She learns that Wolfgang was trying to set up a new Masonic lodge, despite the Emperor’s hatred of the Masons’ revolutionary ideas. While watching a performance of his last opera, The Magic Flute, Nannerl recognizes a clue to the meaning of Wolfgang’s Masonic lodge. Her struggle to elude those who would keep the secrets of Wolfgang’s death takes her from the salons of the Imperial palace to the catacombs of Vienna’s churches and knife attacks in its alleys. As she decodes the clue her brother left for her in "The Magic Flute", she gains a new understanding for his music and its message of love.