Sara Mohr-Pietsch
Sara Mohr-Pietsch (born 1980) is a British music broadcaster who works principally for BBC Radio 3.
Early life and education
Mohr-Pietsch was born in London to a mother of Polish and a father of German descent.[1] She sang in her school's choral society and took the role of Aeneas in a school production of Dido and Aeneas.[2] After school, she studied music at Newnham College, Cambridge (1998–2001), where she was the first ever Newnham Choral Scholar in Selwyn College's Chapel Choir.[3][4] After gaining a first-class degree, she studied for an MA at the University of Edinburgh, subsequently becoming a tutor, a post she retained until 2006.
Career
While based in Edinburgh, Mohr-Pietsch embarked on a career in arts administration and began to broadcast on Radio 3, winning a BBC talent contest in 2004.
After moving back to London, her involvement with the network became more extensive. She became a regular presenter of the network’s Breakfast programme in 2007.[5] Her fortnightly stretches alternated with those of Petroc Trelawny; previously Rob Cowan was the other regular presenter. In addition, she presents (with others) the contemporary music programme Hear and Now.[5] Mohr-Pietsch began to present The Proms in 2008 on Radio 3,[6] and on television for the BBC. At the beginning of December 2013, Clemency Burton-Hill replaced her on Breakfast.[7]
Mohr-Pietsch regularly presents Radio 3's The Choir, and the Discovering Music series, particularly in programmes on Johann Sebastian Bach, whom she greatly admires and has studied extensively; early music is another interest. She is also a singer and pianist and plays the viola da gamba – "incredibly badly" in her own words.
In November 2018, the Dartington Hall Trust announced that Mohr-Pietsch had been appointed as the artistic director of the Dartington International Summer School and Festival. She will curate her first festival in 2020, in succession to Joanna MacGregor.[8]
Voice
Writing in The Daily Telegraph in 2007, Michael Henderson found it "inconceivable that Sarah Mohr-Pietsch, with her dropped aitches and glottal stops, would have been let loose on [Radio 3] even 10 years ago."[9] In 2016, the Radio Times described her as having "one of Radio 3’s most reassuring voices. Such clarity, such warmth."[10]
Charity work
In support of Red Nose Day 2013, Mohr-Pietsch set herself the challenge of learning eight notes on the cello in seven days, as part of a comic rendition of Pachelbel's Canon.[11]
References
- "Sara Mohr Pietsch on the Fall of the Berlin Wall". BBC. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- Mohr-Pietsch, Sara (Spring 2009). "London through Music". New Books in German (25). Retrieved 12 January 2018.
- "Music". Newnham College. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- "About the Choir - Selwyn College". Selwyn College. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- "The Choir - Sara Mohr-Pietsch - BBC Radio 3". BBC. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- Donovan, Paul (13 April 2008). "The life and jail times of a radio presenter". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- Sweney, Mark (31 October 2013). "Radio 3 breakfast show to be presented by Clemency Burton-Hill". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
- "Sara Mohr-Pietsch announced as new artistic director of Dartington". The Strad. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
- Henderson, Michael (14 September 2007). "The English are losing their voice". The Daily Telegraph.
- "Who has the nation's favourite radio voice?". Radio Times. 2 March 2016.
- Tilden, Imogen (14 March 2013). "Baroque silliness as Radio 3 presenters put their red noses on". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
External links
- mohrpietsch.com Official website