Sarah Willis (hornist)

Sarah Elizabeth Peel Willis MBE (born 23 February 1968)[1] is an American-born British-American[2] French horn player. She is a member of the Berlin Philharmonic, and is a presenter of TV and online programs about classical music.

Sarah Willis
MBE
Background information
Born (1968-02-23) 23 February 1968
Bethesda, Maryland, U.S.
Occupation(s)Musician, TV presenter
Instrument(s)French horn
Websitesarah-willis.com

Early life

Sarah Willis was born in Bethesda, Maryland, United States, and grew up in Tokyo, Boston, Moscow, and London.[3][4] She started playing the French horn at age 14, and attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She later joined the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she studied with Anthony Halstead and Jeff Bryant. Moving to Berlin, she studied with Fergus McWilliam.

Willis is the sister of Alastair Willis, a Grammy-nominated conductor and music director of the South Bend Symphony Orchestra.[5]

Career

In 1991, Sarah Willis took the position as second horn with the Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim. She joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2001, under Simon Rattle, becoming the first female brass player.[6] She has performed with a number of orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. She also regularly performs with chamber music ensembles.

Willis is a presenter on the German TV station Deutsche Welle, where she hosts a program entitled "Sarah’s Music".[7] She also interviews soloists and conductors for the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall, and was a mentor and presenter for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra 2011, in Sydney.[8] She works with Zukunft@BPhil, the Berlin Philharmonic's education programme, where she creates and presents family concerts.[9][10][11]

Willis is the host of the regular online series Horn Hangouts,[12] which are streamed live on her website and archived on her YouTube channel. The series includes interviews with famous musicians, as well as tips on playing the instrument. She credits the series with helping to create an online community of horn players around the world.[13] Willis has recorded a number of CDs as member of the Berlin Philharmonic, as soloist, and as part of chamber ensembles.[14]

Willis worked and co-created an album called "Mozart y Mambo" with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, which is "a chamber orchestra made up of young and talented Cuban musicians and their Cuban conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón (Pepe), and also well-known musicians from the Cuban popular music scene." It features famous French Horn solos written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart but with a Cuban twist.[15]

Willis was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to charity and the promotion of classical music.[16]

References
  1. "Sarah Willis - Thank you all SO so much for the many birthday messages, photos and videos from around the world! Totally overwhelming, I appreciated every single one. I was especially honoured to have been sung to and played to on horns and beer bottles by the LA Phil, NY Phil, San Fran Symphony and IU Horns! Loved these videos and I adore you all! :-) | Facebook". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 22 October 2021. 23rd!
  2. "Official Bio – Sarah Willis". Retrieved 22 October 2021.
  3. "Sarah's Music | DW.COM". www.dw.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2016.
  4. Talk with British Hornist Sarah Willis | Insight Germany, retrieved 25 April 2022
  5. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: The Chicago Symphony Horns on Sarah´s Live Horn Hangouts. YouTube.
  6. "Sarah Willis – Berliner Philharmoniker". Berlin Philharmonic. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  7. "Sarah's Music – Contemporary Classical". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  8. Imperato, Albert (13 June 2011). "What a Berlin Philharmonic Horn Player Learned From the YouTube Symphony Orchestra". HuffPost. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  9. "Christmas Concert: Ho, Ho, Horn!". Digital Concert Hall. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  10. "Berlin Philharmonic Brass – Biographies". Berlin Philharmonic Brass. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  11. "ASPEN Artist / Berlin Philharmonic Horn Quartet". www.aspen.jp. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  12. "8 reasons we absolutely love the Berlin Philharmonic". Classic FM. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  13. Rees, Jasper (18 August 2014). "10 Questions for Horn Player Sarah Willis". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  14. "Sarah Willis French Horn » Discography". sarah-willis.com. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012.
  15. Willis, Sarah (2020). ""Mozart y Mambo"". Sarah Willis. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  16. "No. 63377". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 2021. p. B27.
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