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Author: Chiara

Berlin, July 2017 Avi Avital, Iván Fischer, Simon Halsey, Lisa Batiashvili, cast of Chicago

Berlin, Berlin! I loved putting this compilation together of all my favourite Sarah´s Music episodes which we have filmed in Berlin. When choosing clips for the compilations, I get all nostalgic but also proud, as we have some great episodes out there! It´s just often hard to decide which ones to include…

We also had fun filming the pieces to camera for this episode – it was a really hot summer´s day and I dragged my team all around Berlin. But they were rewarded with Currywurst and fries at the end! Enjoy Sarah´s Berlin Music!

Berlin, June 2017  Daniil Trifonov, Håkan Hardenberger, Martin Grubinger, Daniel Hope

A compilation of some of my favourite Sarah´s Music soloists we have featured  on the programme so far. I feel so lucky and privileged to meet and film with so many amazing musicians. And it´s so much fun revisiting old programmes to make these compilations.

All the links to the complete episodes are posted here, go back and enjoy!

Sports, Students and a Storm Trooper Andrew Bain, principal horn of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and of the Star Wars soundtrack fame, talks to Sarah live in Berlin about his horn philosophy, his students, his LA life and recording Star Wars. Thanks to all his students and family who sent in the videos to surprise him – and special thanks to the wonderful Annie Bosler for cutting them all together! Hope you enjoy Andrew´s Horn Hangout as much as I did! Berlin, June 19th, 2017

Berlin, May 2017 Alban Gerhardt, Musicians4United Europe Soloists

“It will be called ‘Europe’ in the 20th century, and in the following centuries, even more transfigured, it will be called ‘humanity’…let us not be Englishmen, Frenchmen or Germans but Europeans. Let us no longer be Europeans but humans.”            – Victor Hugo

Kudos to my friend, the wonderful cellist Alban Gerhardt, for founding this initiative and putting this concert together. I was very proud to take part and was bowled over at the support we had. We all feel so strongly about supporting a united Europe, and we tried to show this the best way we know how – by making music. It was also wonderful to be with so many musician friends that day, everyone has such busy careers that we all usually just stay connected on social media, so it was a real treat to be in the same room all together.

Thanks to the Radialsystem and the Pulse of Europe for organising and supporting this event. When Alban suggested it I just knew that I wanted to not only be a part of it but that I wanted to feature it on my programme to be able to share the message of these wonderful musicians with all of you. Let´s all work together for a United Europe – or at least a more united world.

 

(thanks to Thomas Rosenthal for the photos)

May 2017, Barbican Centre, London – Sound Unbound Festival
I´m a big fan of anything which gets people interested in classical music who might not be familiar with it. This weekend was about inspiring new audiences but also offering new ideas for the classical music fans. There was so much going on in this huge arts centre, the Barbican was the place to be!
I enjoyed everything I experienced this weekend but there were two special highlights: the first was hearing the London Symphony Orchestra play John Williams’s film music.  The LSO is such a fantastic orchestra, they know these pieces so well (they recorded the soundtracks to most of the films) and hearing the film music without the movie distracting me made me realise just what a genius John Williams is. Loved it and wished we could have shown you more of it.
Second highlight was, of course, the London Horn Flashmob! I had had no idea if anyone would show up – I just put out the word that everyone was welcome and look at the crowd we had! I was especially touched at the mixture – from a 7 year old to seasoned pros to enthusiastic amateurs to talented students. And, the icing on the cake, my friends from the Coldstream, Grenadier, Scots and Irish Army Bands came to surprise me – in full uniform! It was so fabulous to see them again.
A great day was had by all – hope you enjoy the Barbican too!

Tel Aviv, March 2017  Na´ama Goldman, Dan Ettinger, the cast of “Faust”

This was my first time in Tel Aviv – what a wonderful, vibrant city! I was officially there to take part in the Israel Horn Day, involving horn players from all over the country but whenever I am asked to take part in an interesting event, I always try to double up and film a Sarah’s Music episode as well as we need a new episode every second week.

Tel Aviv was no exception, so after 3 intensive days of horn, my team and I then went off for a fantastic day filming backstage at the Israeli Opera for Sarah’s Music. I love being backstage in an opera house. It always reminds me of my time playing in the Berlin State Opera. The wonderful Yonat Burmil organised the exclusive access backstage for us – many thanks for all your help, Yonat!

This very red production of Gounod´s Faust, directed by Stefano Poda, has a lot going on backstage and I hope you enjoy having a look behind the scenes as much as we did filming it. Zcharia the house cat made me giggle. He lies under the stage during performances and usually comes out to say hello in the interval – he loves the choir and hisses at the stagehands. Check out the photo of him in the gallery below – you had to see him to believe it.

For my first visit to Tel Aviv, I didn’t get much sightseeing done but I enjoyed what I saw as we filmed the opening shots to the episode. You’ll see that I tried some traditional Israeli dancing – all I can say in my defence is that it’s harder than it looks! I was happier watching everyone else..

My dancing aside, a great day was had by all in Tel Aviv – toda lekulam and I hope to be back soon, it´s such a fantastic city!

Hanging out with the Vlatkovićs!

Such an enjoyable Hangout with Dinka and Radovan Vlatković – Radovan, of course, a horn legend and our very first Horn Hangout guest back in 2012 and his wife Dinka who is a wonderful performance coach (and Horn Hangout veteran too!)

We streamed this Hangout live on Facebook – and were amazed that 14 thousand viewers enjoyed this Hangout! The questions were asked via Facebook live chat, so no archived questions for this Hangout. But we are sure you will enjoy this one – in case you were not one of the 14,000…

Heidelberg in the spring and Thomas Hampson – what a lovely combination! My team and I were really happy to have an outing to beautiful Heidelberg to visit Tom at his Lied Academy as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Festival. He had chosen a fantastic group of young singers and it was very inspiring to watch him work with them and to see how they blossomed and, without exception, sang even better after hearing all his tips and suggestions. It made me wish I had a good voice and could sing some Lieder too!
I loved that the whole event was live streamed – what a gift to the music world! I hope you enjoy this episode as much as we enjoyed filming it, and don´t forget to check out the impromptu Heidelberg Blues which happened on the bridge after filming the Horn Challenge…

Berlin, March 2017  Lisa Batiashvili, Yasuhisa Toyota, Boulez Ensemble
Berlin has a new concert hall, a “gift to the city”, as our minister of culture, Monika Grütters called it. Having watched the opening concert live on tv, I was really excited to see the hall in person – and also, of course, get out my horn to test the reportedly fabulous acoustics for myself.
The hall, part of the Barenboim – Said Academy, is stunning, and the acoustics equally so. I found the sound of Lisa and the Boulez Ensemble strings particularly beautiful there – the strings seemed to shimmer and float in the hall. I felt very privileged to be able to sit and listen to them rehearse – Lisa is one of the top violinists of our generation and I loved watching her work with the ensemble. She is also a total sweetheart and was happy to join the ranks of the Horn Challenge celebrities. Good job, dear Lisa!
Having accosted Yasu Toyota in the Philharmonie backstage cafe and cheekily asking if I could interview him, I was very honoured that he agreed. He gave us a wonderful insight for this episode into how the Boulez Saal acoustic was born. I wish I had had another hour to interview him – it was absolutely fascinating.
Enjoy this episode about Berlin´s new concert hall and, better still, come and visit it for yourself live one day!
Tamas, Trumpet and Table Tennis!
A great Hangout with Tamás Velenczei, principal trumpet of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2000 and a rare occasion to get up close and personal with him. It was fantastic to have you all joining in from all over the world, here´s his Hangout in case you missed it live!
A huge thank you to Ayano Guiles, Nick Akers and the Pacific Music Festival Trumpet Alumni who worked together to make this fantastic video for Tamás. He was so touched to see it, you all made him feel very loved, thank you for this!
Berlin, March 24th, 2017