Wikipedia

Sara Mohr-Pietsch

Sara Mohr-Pietsch (/mɔːˈpiːtʃ/; born 1980) is a British music broadcaster who works principally for BBC Radio 3.

Early life and education

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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

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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 presented 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. In April 2024, she began a new series, "Music Map" for BBC Radio 3, in which "Mohr-Pietsch explores a piece of classical music, travelling to it through a playlist of connected and contrasting sound worlds, and mapping it in a musical landscape" [8]. In addition, Mohr-Pietsch co-presents "Night Tracks", described on the BBC Radio 3 website as "an adventurous, immersive soundtrack for late-night listening, from classical to contemporary and everything in between".

She is also a singer and pianist and plays the viola da gamba – "incredibly badly" in her own words.[citation needed]

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 curated her first festival in 2020, in succession to Joanna MacGregor.[9] It was announced in November 2023 that Mohr-Pietsch had decided to stand down from the role after four years, amid speculation about the Summer School's future.

Voice

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Writing in The Daily Telegraph in 2007, sportswriter Michael Henderson found it "inconceivable that Sara Mohr-Pietsch, with her dropped aitches and glottal stops, would have been let loose on Radio 3 even 10 years ago."[10] In 2016, the Radio Times described her as having "one of Radio 3’s most reassuring voices. Such clarity, such warmth."[11]

Charity work

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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.[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Sara Mohr Pietsch on the Fall of the Berlin Wall". BBC. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  2. ^ Mohr-Pietsch, Sara (Spring 2009). "London through Music". New Books in German (25). Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Music". Newnham College. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  4. ^ "About the Choir - Selwyn College". Selwyn College. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  5. ^ a b "The Choir - Sara Mohr-Pietsch - BBC Radio 3". BBC. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  6. ^ Donovan, Paul (13 April 2008). "The life and jail times of a radio presenter". The Sunday Times. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001xw75
  9. ^ "Sara Mohr-Pietsch announced as new artistic director of Dartington". The Strad. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  10. ^ Henderson, Michael (14 September 2007). "The English are losing their voice". The Daily Telegraph.
  11. ^ "Who has the nation's favourite radio voice?". Radio Times. 2 March 2016.
  12. ^ 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.
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