Sarah Willis: My horn is my best friend but also sometimes my worst enemy

Sarah Willis is a marvelous paragon of talent and energy. Born in the United States to a British mother and Australian father, she became in 2001 the first woman hornist of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle. Trained in London and Berlin after the fall of the Wall in 1989, she was two years later the first professional musician in the West to join the Staatskapelle, the orchestra of the Deutsche Staatsoper Unter den Linden under Daniel Barenboim.

A member of the Order of the British Empire since 2021 for his services to charitable activities and for the promotion of classical music, Willis is also a major presence on television and in digital media.

Pieza enlazada

For seven years he has been in close contact with Cuban music and musicians and has already recorded four albums: Mozart y Mambo, Mozart y Mambo - Cuban Dances, Mozart y Mambo - La bella cubana and Sarahbanda, each of them more precious and ardent. By now Sarah Willis knows how to dance salsa, the original purpose of her first trip to the largest of the Antilles.

Despite the sheer volume of her daily work, Sarah Willis has graciously found some time for an exclusive interview (in writing and via email) with Mundoclasico.com Here are her statements:

Juan Carlos Tellechea: First of all, I would like to congratulate you and the Berliner Philharmoniker Orchestra, under the aegis of conductor Kirill Petrenko, on the magnificent, diaphanous and unique performance of Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 at the Salzburg Festival recently. How do you feel in this vast universe of Bruckner's music, and do you find new paths in it?

Sarah Willis: I agree, Bruckner´s universe is vast! And especially this year as we are performing all of his symphonies to mark his birthday. As a horn player we are always very challenged by his writing - he always found something new for the horns and also the Wagner Tubas. New paths are found by the different interpretations by different conductors, this is always a very interesting part of our work as musicians, to experience many different versions of the same piece.

And now let's get to the point: What was your image of Latin America and Cuba in particular when you were still a child?

I wasn’t particular aware of Latin America as a child. My father was a foreign correspondent and we lived in several countries: America, Japan, Russia and England but we never made it over to Latin America. Cuba was a place which I discovered much later in life when the Buena Vista Social Club appeared. They made me fall in love with Cuban music and this passion is still with me and getting stronger by the day.

What is your current image of Latin America and Cuba?

I have been lucky enough to travel to and perform in many Latin American countries and I simply love the passion and enthusiasm for life and music there. Times are, of course, tough in many of these countries but even if everyone is having a hard time, when music comes on and everyone starts dancing, it seems all these worries are forgotten for a while. This is especially true for Cuba. Cuba is a really difficult place to be right now - I still love going there but it gets more sad every time I go - everyone seems to be leaving and the infrastructure is falling apart. I hate to see my beloved friends there suffering but when we all play music together, you would never imagine that they are going through a rough time economically - and they are especially happy while dancing!

Do you feel more like a British citizen than a U.S. citizen?

I feel about 95% British! My Mum is British and always brought me and my sister and brother up to be and speak British. But having been born in the USA and living there for quite a few years, I do notice that when I am there, some things seem very familiar and there is a little American tug at my heart in there somewhere.

How do you see the situation in the United States now with the launching of the Harris-Waltz formula of the Democratic Party?

I sincerely hope that they will win!

What has the Afro-American and Afro-Caribbean influence contributed to your integral personality (including your musical one)? What did you learn from Latin America?

I have loved every moment of this journey into Cuban music. It has changed me as a musician and as a person - I feel much freer on my instrument and my rhythm is a lot better! I am a classically trained musician but appreciate all kinds of different styles of music. But especially Cuban music got under my skin. I love the joie de vivre of the Cuban people - as I said above, times are really tough in Cuba but when they play music and dance, you would never know it. I also enjoy every style of Latin American music which I have encountered and want to spend more time delving into Brazilian, Venezuelan and Colombian rhythms… actually, all Latin American music! I also love the passion and enthusiasm for things which my Cuban friends so freely show, we could do with more of that here in Europe, couldn´t we?!

What do you intend to achieve with your project and what are your next goals? What are your doubts at this moment? Are you behind a chimera that you want to see become a reality?

The Mozart y Mambo project raised money for our Instruments for Cuba fund, which has helped obtain better instruments for my Cuban musician friends and also help repair the ones they have. It has been a big success so my goals are to continue fundraising for this. We are also in the process of setting up an orchestra academy in Havana to train young musicians in the art of playing in an orchestra. This is an exciting project and one which I hope will have a lasting influence on the music students there.

And for myself - We are only as good as our last concert and the horn is a particularly fiendish instrument to master. My horn is my best friend but also sometimes my worst enemy, so it is my daily challenge to be the best horn player I can be, which means a lot of practice and preparation.

I am very lucky that my passion became my job and I am grateful for that every day.

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