Rolando Villazón has been leading the Salzburg Mozart Week as artistic director since 2019. Now his festival pays a visit to Berlin and the Pierre Boulez Saal, presenting highlights from a program that celebrates the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart every year around January 27, the composer’s birthday.

The two-day event kicks off with Villazón himself reading excerpts from Mozart’s letters to close friends that provide equally profound and humorous insights into the composer’s personal life. The reading is accompanied by a selection of his violin sonatas, performed by Hugues Borsarello and Paul Montag on historic instruments, including Mozart’s own 1764 violin made by Pietro Antonio dalla Costa.