A Cuban Christmas

Always straight into the audience! That's the direction Sarah Willis looks, even if her instrument, the horn, usually sounds the other way. When Willis joined her home orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, more than 20 years ago, she was a pioneer as the first female member of the brass section. Since then, much has developed in the famous traditional orchestra, which in Willis has gained not only an excellent artist but also an eloquent and likeable personality who knows how to pass on her enthusiasm in interviews and presentations. Communicating culture with joy is one of the passions that the members of her current project The Sarahbanda have in common. It all began in 2017, when Sarah Willis met the young talents of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra at a masterclass in Havana. The cheerfully playful brainwave of mixing the horn, which is rather foreign to Cuban music, and the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (largely unsuspected of the mambo) in the 'Mozart y Mambo' project led to international performances and a whole series of joint recordings.

It has also resulted in the select group of musicians who are now taking the rhythms, sounds and colors of the music-obsessed island around the world as a band. The Sarahbanda also takes the "celebration" in the holidays literally and gives the Christmas repertoire a fresh cell treatment with sparkling joy in the music. The sold-out Berlin Philharmonie 2024 was just the beginning - in December 2025, the Konzerthaus (concert hall) in Freiburg will also be able to enjoy the energetic arrangements. If anyone still doubts that rumba, son and cha cha cha belong to the festive season, let The Sarahbanda convince you: they belong to Christmas like Mozart belongs to the mambo.

Program:
"A Cuban Christmas"

Sarah Willis, horn
The Sarahbanda

With the kind support of the Freunde und Förderer der Albert Konzerte e.V.

EUR 59,- / 49,- / 37,- / 25,- / 19,- incl. fees

Sarah Willis | Photo © Monika Rittershaus