The South African-born, Gold Coast-educated fortepianist talks Mozart and the therapeutic effect of mixing a cocktail.

What was your personal way into Mozart as a child?

My parents were big music lovers. Neither of them played any instruments, but they were avid record collectors and music was very much part of their daily life. My brother and sister both learnt piano as a matter of course and it’s safe to say that my parents played a lot of Mozart when I was growing up. There was a lot of Bach and Beethoven as well, but there was a lot of Mozart. I’d say that connecting with Mozart was the entryway into classical music for me. It was a kind of door that unlocked everything else. When I was 10 or 11, I became completely obsessed with Mozart – actually dangerously so [laughs] – and it went from there.

Who were the pianists that you first got to know playing Mozart on standard piano?

I listened to very little keyboard music, to be honest, at the very beginning. It was mostly vocal and orchestral music. But I remember very distinctly listening to Christian Zacharias playing Mozart sonatas when I was younger. I...