Does Will Sharpe really play the piano in Amadeus?

2 January 2026, 16:54

New 'Amadeus' series - behind the scenes

Here’s what went into Will Sharpe’s preparation for the piano scenes in Sky Arts’ new adaptation of ‘Amadeus’.

When The White Lotus star Will Sharpe was offered the chance to bring Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart back to life for Sky’s reimagining of Amadeus, he says he hesitated at first.

“The idea of playing Mozart was quite scary,” he said, “which perversely, perhaps was a draw to do it in the first place.”

He says what intrigued him most was unpicking the myth of Mozart’s effortless genius. “People say the music just sort of fell into his lap,” Sharpe says, “I wanted to unpick what that actually means in reality.

“There is a feeling of a sort of burden – that he’s almost trying to fight his talent.”

Can Will Sharpe play piano?

Sharpe has had no such battle with his musical talent. He’s said that he’s “about a grade 3 level”, with a rudimentary grasp of the piano, but one who’s comfortable entertaining his children with Beatles and Billy Joel songs.

Read more: Paul Bettany tapped into own insecurities to play Salieri in new ‘Amadeus’ series

How did Will Sharpe train to play piano as Mozart?

To bridge this gap between his ability and the precision demanded by Mozart, Sharpe teamed up with musical director Benjamin Holder, who has worked with musical actors Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande on the Wicked movies.

“Will played a bit of piano and drums and his brother is a composer so he was already musical but he wasn’t a classical person,” Holder says, “We had to convert his piano busking chords into a concert pianist.”

Though the production takes a few liberties with historical accuracy, the producers were keen that the music in Amadeus was real, not mimed, so much of what viewers see on screen is genuinely Sharpe playing.

“I hope a lot of people who watch the show will be people who are fans of Mozart and I wouldn’t want to fob any off with anything that wasn’t real,” Sharpe told The Times.

What the 39-year-old Emmy-award winning actor might have lacked in pianistic talent he has made up for in enthusiasm.

“There was a great sense of humour and exuberance to him, which is part of what I think is attractive about the role,” Sharpe says, “Despite everything, he just keeps getting back up and the music is his way of dealing with this turmoil.”

Sharpe has also said he also found inspiration in pianist Mitsuko Uchida’s observation that, “In Mozart, even if there may be sad moments, he looks up and up... every note is a child… trying to take a different direction.”

Despite the journey he faced, Sharpe threw himself into the challenge, even playing a piano on fire on screen. “Honestly, I’ve just loved every single musical sequence,” he says. “The music is so good, it’s inspiring. I’ve always felt so supported by the players and everyone else. Ben Holder taught me to play, well, play the pieces that I needed to in a way that made it feel so much simpler than perhaps it was.”

Sharpe’s brutal work schedule wasn’t an excuse to skip practice. When work took him to the US and Japan, he still kept up with a portable six‑octave keyboard that Holder gave him to set up on an ironing board in his hotel room.

“Obviously, I’m not a conductor, I’m not a professional musician,” he says, “So I’d often be like, ‘oh my God, I don’t really know what I’m doing here.’ But no one was ever judgmental. I really was just trying to feel what was being said in the music.”