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Category: Episode

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!

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!

Miami, February 2017 – Michael Tilson Thomas, Clyde Scott, Roberto Toledo, New World Fellows

This was such a wonderful episode to make! A beautiful location, talented young musicians, fabulous organisation and fun people to work with, great music…oh, and not forgetting that Miami in February is a dream if you live in Berlin!

I really admire all that New World does and loved my time there as a horn coach. Sitting in the Frank Gehry concert hall and listen to these enthusiastic young musicians rehearse Schubert with Michael Tilson Thomas, I had a very strong “I love my job!” moment. New World has a very special atmosphere – it prepares young musicians not just musically but also to “take leadership roles in professional orchestras and ensembles”. Of course it´s vital to be dedicated to your instrument and practise as much as possible but I love the fact that New World takes care of the whole package, body, soul and mind as well as instrument.

This was a dream shoot for me and my team. I was really happy that Chris Rowe, my cameraman from Berlin, could join us in Miami and we were both blown away at how welcoming, competent and helpful the whole NW team was. Thanks especially to Craig Hall for tirelessly accompanying us and answering our thousands of questions!

As I said to MTT in his interview – I really wish I had had the chance to come here as a student. But I enjoyed coming as a horn coach and then being able to create this episode of Sarah´s Music about the Wallcast concert. I loved every minute of it and hope you will enjoy coming behind the scenes at New World as well!

Click here to watch the whole episode 

Berlin, January 2017 – Dr Ahmad Sarmast, Zarifa Adiba, Negin Khapalwak

“I am a girl, a tree in the sun.
I am the messenger from the land of hope.
As I walk, spring appears around me,
The walls around me turn into garden gates.”
“Zohra” is a music goddess in Persian literature – the perfect name for the very first Women´s Orchestra in Afghanistan. This ensemble, made up of 30 girls aged 13-20, touched my heart during our day together in Berlin. What brave and inspirational young ladies they are!
The ensemble was founded by the visionary Dr Ahmed Sarmast, head of the ANIM and this is the first time the ensemble has been on tour. A huge security undertaking, as I´m sure you can imagine. After a huge success at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the girls were celebrated like popstars wherever they went. They were all a little media-weary and I am so grateful to Dr Sarmast, Zarifa and Negin for taking the time to talk to me during their busy day.
Showing the girls my musical home, the Philharmonie, was a wonderful experience- they had never seen anything like it and we had a lot of fun sitting on the stage together. I wonder if Negin or Zarifa will ever conduct there? I certainly hope so!

Click here to see the whole episode.

Berlin, January 2017 – John Adams, Members of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Academy

John Adams is introduced on his website as an “American composer and conductor and creative thinker. I love this description! We are so lucky to have him as our Composer in Residence this year at the Berlin Philharmonic. It has been great getting to know his music and having him with us in the Philharmonie – either conducting us himself or having him come to the rehearsals and the concerts and share his ideas for pieces we are playing for the first time. To receive the insight on a piece from a living composer is a very special thing.

John is such a fine and humble musician, it is a pleasure to work with him and he always manages to make us laugh. During the Harmonielehre rehearsals we weren’t getting the speed of the piece quite right and John, who was conducting, took all the blame saying “the conductor is not quite managing to get the tempo just how the composer wanted it…!”

John, it’s been great having you in Berlin, I love your music and your creative thinking!

Click here to see the whole episode!

Sarah’s “Non-Classical” Music compilation. Not the most eloquent episode title but that’s what it is!

Because this compilation features musicians from previous episodes who don’t fall neatly into the “classical music” category – although they do all have roots in classical music, one way or another. I’m talking about jazz, gospel, house and world music.

I love putting together these compilation episodes because it gives me a chance to go back and reflect on all the incredible musicians I have had the privilege of interviewing while filming Sarah’s Music. This compilation is no exception – with musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Brooklyn Rider, Damian Sneed, Henrik Schwarz and John Wilson. It´s so great to be able to expand my knowledge of the variety of music out there in the world and feel lucky to be taught by the best in the business! Enjoy our Non-Classical episode!

Click here to see the whole episode!

In one of the very first meetings discussing ‘Sarah´s Music’, I suggested to the the Deutsche Welle producers that perhaps we could have some sort of running element that would feature in every episode. Thus the Sarah´s Music Horn Challenge was born! It seems like yesterday, but nearly 3 years ago, Clemi – then 5 years old – took the very first challenge (some kind of context? a few more words about him) and since then has started studying the horn properly. He is proud of the fact that he was our first – especially as Plácido Domingo was the second!

From the world’s top musicians to young children, all of my guests on the programme, without exception, have been extremely good sports about taking the Horn Challenge. Remember, not all of them are even musicians! Sometimes I have taken it myself – like playing my horn while marching with the horn section of the Band of the Coldstream Guards. So tricky but one of my favourite moments so far. It was hard to choose the best Horn Challenges for this compilation as there have been so many memorable ones. We constantly receive letters from viewers from all corners of the globe, telling us how much they love the Horn Challenge and how it always makes them smile. So here is a wonderful 12 minute compilation of the best gurgles, hot air whistling and elephant noises which make up the wonderful surprises which the Sarah´s Horn Challenge has provided in our 56 episodes so far. Enjoy!

Click here to see the whole episode!

Berlin, Quito, Tokyo, Goa, London – December 2016 – Ecuador Brass, The Chord Quartet,
Child´s Play Foundation India, Band of the Coldstream Guards, 100 Berlin Horns, Santa Claus

Today’s technology gives us such fantastic opportunities for global interaction, bringing together people with shared passions and interests from all over the world. In my own community of musicians, I see the enormous benefit of the closer contact between us. This episode of Sarah´s Music is a perfect example of global interaction!

What I did was to contact friends from around the world to see if they would send me their Christmas music. And just look what we have collected! I’m excited to be including music from Ecuador, Japan, India and London. That’s big thanks to Ecuador Brass, Naoyuki Hayashi, Luis Dias and the Band of the Coldstream Guards for sending us their wonderful footage and demonstrating the spirit of this episode so beautifully. I am so grateful – thank you, gracias, arigato!

I am also delighted to include MY favourite Christmas music this year – Ho Ho Horn! – which was the title of this year´s Berlin Philharmonic Family Christmas concert. I create and present these family concerts each year in the Philharmonie – the wilder and more wonderful the better…

This year I featured the horn and, as you’ll see in the programme, I invited the Berlin horn community to take part. What a sight and sound that was! We also had two guests from past episodes of Sarah´s Music guests – Clemi, who took the very first ever Sarah´s Music Horn Challenge and also Dr Andreas Ochs, who gave us a tour of all horned animals in the Berlin Zoo for Sarah´s Music last year.

I got goosebumps when I saw the footage of all the horn players coming down the stairs to the stage in the Philharmonie. I am sure you´ll love it too – click here to check out the whole concert on the Digital Concert Hall, I promise it will put a smile on your face!

Thank you for watching Sarah´s Music, I love hearing from you all and where you are watching from around the world. Have a wonderful Christmas and a music-filled New Year and see you back here very soon!

Click here to see the whole episode!

Bonn, October 2016 – Katia and Marielle Labèque, David Chalmin, Yaman Okur

I absolutely adore Katia and Marielle Labèque and was happy to have them on Sarah´s Music last year. They are incredible musicians and wonderful people so when I saw that they were coming to the Beethovenfest this year, I jumped at the chance to have them on the programme again. This time they brought an unusual combination with them: a rock guitarist, a drummer and 7 breakdancers! I loved it.

Actually, it´s not fair to describe David Chalmin as just a rock guitarist—he composed Star Cross´d Lovers especially for Katia and Marielle. As he says in the interview, it´s very special to be able to write for two musicians he knows so well as he can tailor-make the parts to suit their individual talents. I loved the piece and it was also the first time I had looked closely at the art of breakdancing.

I was simply blown away by Yaman Okur and his team of dancers. Such incredible discipline and strength! It was fascinating to talk to Yaman and hear how he had put this group together and how he taught them the choreography—breakdancing is totally spontaneous and these dancers had to memorise all the moves.

One of them told me afterwards that the only time his body doesn’t hurt is when he is dancing. I was in awe of them all—but still a bit worried during the Horn Challenge! There was a standing ovation from the usually quite conservative Beethovenhalle audience—well deserved in my opinion. This project rocked!