What do the conductor Alondra de la Parra, organ superstar Cameron Carpenter and horn player Sarah Willis have in common? They’re giving classical music a new image. Arts.21 travels from Berlin to Havana, from Mozart to mambo.
Sarah Willis with Havana Lyceum Orchestra/Jose Antonio Mendez Padron Mozart Y Mambo (Alpha-Classics)
Sarah Willis has been a horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic since 2001. She was even surprised when she won the audition! At the end of the audition when everyone came out and congratulated me, I was actually thinking, what? Why are they congratulating me? The other guy got it, and they said, no, you got the job. And then somebody said, you are the first woman in the Berlin Philharmonic brass section. I thought, Oh, goodness, yes. So I am! I ve got to call my mom.