Page 185 - Alison Balsom Quiet City FULL BOOK

21 August 2022

Classical home listening: Sarah Willis:

Mozart y Mambo: Cuban Dances; Alison

Balsom: Quiet City

Sarah Willis with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra.

Horn player Sarah Willis returns to Cuba for more sizzling collaborations, while
trumpet virtuoso Alison Balsom captivates in Copland, Bernstein and more

Fiona Maddocks

Sarah Willis, a member of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra since 2001
and the orchestra’s first female brass player, has triumphed variously in
many directions, as TV presenter and chamber musician, as well as
being a persuasive champion of the french horn. Two years ago she
teamed up with musicians in Havana. The result was their joyful

collaboration, Mozart y Mambo, in which she and the band played Mozart alongside
traditional Cuban music. Now a second disc is out: Mozart y Mambo: Cuban
Dances (Alpha Classics), with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra and conductor José
Antonio Méndez Padrón.