Mozart y Mambo continues!

Part 3 - La Bella Cubana
Check it out here!

Author: Chiara

Tim Jones, Sarah Willis and Wolfgang Amadeus!

This Horn Hangout was all about the Mozart horn concertos – we horn players are so lucky to have them in our repertoire and a lovely afternoon was spent in the Philharmonie in Berlin drinking tea and discussing all of your questions. Big thanks to Julie Landsman and Jen Montone for joining in the live chat with their tips and answers – you can see everyone’s comments here in the chat and you can add your own too. Any Mozart tips very much appreciated!

Berlin, September 9th, 2019

Philip Cobb – Brisbane, Brass Bands and Baseball Caps

Phil Cobb, principal trumpet of the London Symphony Orchestra and star of the brass band world, talks about his life, the trumpet, brass bands and baseball caps. Live from the Queensland Conservatoruim of Music´s High Brass Weekend, where Phil and Sarah were the featured artists, a great time was had by all – both in the room and online, as you can see from the live chat! July 20th, 2019

Power, Passion and Potica
Andrej Žust, horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic, celebrates life, horn and Slovenia on the Horn Hangouts!April 1st is also a great day for a Horn Hangout so expect some surprises…
Thanks to our Gregor Jagodic from the Slovenian Embassy in Berlin for being our special guest and supplying all the Slovenia decorations and the potica.
Thanks to Bostjan Lipovsek and Brina Zust for the photos and videos! And to Jakob and George for the opening clip…

Berlin, April 1st 2019

Joe Alessi – The Valentine´s Day Horn Hangout
Live from the New York Phil Archives, February 14th, 2019
With special Valentine´s guest Jörgen van Rijen

Erik Ralske – All About Opera
live from the Juilliard School Feb 11th,2019 with the Juilliard Horns performing excerpts from the world of opera for our very first Horn Hangout Opera Quiz!
In case you want to know what the answers were: (SPOILER ALERT!)
1) Pagliacci – Opening Prologue
2) I Puritani – Prelude
3) Carmen – Michaela´s Aria
4) Tales of Hoffmann – Epilogue
5) Die Meistersinger – Prelude to Act 3
6) Tosca- Opening Act 3
7) Don Carlo – Opening Act 2
8) Lucian di Lammermoor
9) Fidelio – Aria Act 1
10) Götterdämmerung – Sonnenaufgang Act 2

Jen Montone – Toolbox, Tone and Teaching
Featuring the Curtis Horns

Recorded live at the Curtis Institute of Music on Feb.10th, 2019

Berlin Chamber Music Hall, December 2018 – The 14 Berlin Flutes, Andreas Blau

I play with flutes players every day in the orchestra and my best friend is a flute player but while researching for this episode of Sarah’s Music I realised I knew virtually nothing about this beautiful instrument. So I spent some happy hours googling flutes and discovering all sorts of things – like the first flutes were made out of bird bones, that George Washington and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky played the flute, and that you can beatbox on a flute. Great stuff! But most interesting of all was learning about all the different types of flutes you can hear today – and in this wonderful ensemble featured here on Sarah’s Music, you can see and hear them all!

The first rehearsal (in the middle of the night in Berlin, you’ll find out why in this episode) started with what looked like a lot of plumbing: everyone putting together their instruments. Daniel on the piccolo was of course the quickest, whereas Heiko and Klaus needed longer to set up their huge contrabass flutes. It was fascinating to watch and fascinating to listen to this ensemble play!

Enjoy this Christmas episode of Sarah’s Music with the 14 Berlin Flutes – Die 14 Berliner Flötisten- and wherever you are, have a wonderful Christmas!

Skid Row, Los Angeles August 2018  Urban Voices Project, Vijay Gupta, Leeav Sofer, LA Phil Horns

The power of music is a wonderful thing. We have seen this over and over in the past four years of Sarah’s Music but no more so than here in downtown Los Angeles on the infamous Skid Row. Skid Row is synonymous with homelessness and poverty but Street Symphony, the wonderful organisation we are featuring on this programme – Street Symphony – is bringing hope and inspiration to the residents.

Founded by the hugely inspiring Vijay Gupta, Street Symphony fascinated me from the moment I heard about it. Vijay organised an event at the Skid Row Archive and Museum for my team and I to meet some of the people involved – both organisers and participants. I was so happy that my dear friends from the LA Philharmonic horn section offered to come down and play with me, that meant so much.
We had a wonderful afternoon exchanging music with our new friends. The Urban Voices Project, under the direction of Leeav Sofer, sang for us, we horns played for them and then we finished up with a finale of everyone together. I absolutely loved it and will be hopefully visiting again on future trips to LA. Bravo to all involved in this very special project, I admire you all so much!

Los Angeles, August 2018 Oscar D´Leon, Gustavo Dudamel, LA Philharmonic

What a legend Oscar D´León, El Sonero del Mundo, is! I was so excited when I found out I would be playing with him in Los Angeles at the Hollywood Bowl, and was absolutely determined to get him onto Sarah’s Music. People told me I had no chance, that he would be too busy etc, but I didn’t give up and thanks to his manager, Oslan Osorio, I ended up being able to interview him the day before the first rehearsal. It´s funny – I was more nervous interviewing him than any of the “classical” music celebrities, I was a real fangirl!

The next day at the Hollywood Bowl we turned up for rehearsal and Oscar was already rehearsing with his band. No chance of a normal A from the oboe to tune up to – the sweet sounds of salsa were blasting out over the empty Hollywood Bowl! I loved being part of this concert – playing in some of Oscar´s iconic songs which have been arranged especially for him, his band and symphony orchestra. When Oscar wanted all the orchestra to get up and dance, noone moved. The conductor, Gustavo Dudamel, knowing that I love to dance salsa, looked over at me and gestured for me to go and dance. But I was an extra player in the LA Phil that day and was suddenly way too shy to get up and go to the front of the orchestra to dance with Oscar. But Nickolai Kurganov, a violinist in the LA Phil, saved the day – and MADE my day! I had heard he was a fantastic dancer so when he looked over and gestured that I should come dance with him, we found a cosy spot behind the violas and started to dance. I forgot there were 17,000 people watching and was simply in seventh heaven – dancing salsa with a great dancer to my favourite music sung live by one of my heroes. An unforgettable night, gracias Oscar – sabrosooo!

Arturo Sandoval Tarzana, Los Angeles, August 2018 

As I type this, I have Cuban jazz legend Arturo Sandoval´s CD “Ultimate Duets” playing in the background. I just love this album. It’s a fitting tribute to him that his duet partners on this album are all such world class musicians – ultimate duets indeed!

Arturo and I did a live “Horn Hangout” together in January 2018. We clicked from the moment we met and he brought me to tears at the end of the Hangout when he ‘Sarah-naded’ me on the piano. I wanted to share this fantastic musician with my Sarah’s Music audience and so I hope you enjoy this special portrait of a very special man who awes me with his musicality and passion. We had a wonderful day filming with Arturo and his beautiful wife Marienela, who invited myself and my team into their home with such graciousness and generosity. Arturo – eres fantástico!