Cuban Christmas Sarah Willis & The Sarahbanda

• 1 We Wish You a Merry Christmas (Arr. Warrell, Durán & Lombida) 03:35
• 2 Jingle Bells (Arr. Davis) 04:24
• 3 Silent Night (Arr. Aragón) 04:33
• 4 Overture (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 02:06
• 5 March (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 01:14
• 6 Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 01:57
• 7 Trepak (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 01:19
• 8 Dance of the Reed Pipes (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 01:45
• 9 Waltz of the Flowers (From the Cuban Nutcracker Suite) [Arr. Davis & Lombida] 03:41
• 10 Allegro (From Brandenburg Concerto No. 3, BWV 1048) [Arr. Olivero] 05:34
• 11 The Christmas Song (Arr. Aragón) 04:33
• 12 Criolla Navidad (Arr. Davis) 03:41
• 13 White Christmas (Arr. Aragón) 07:03
• 14 Feliz Navidad (Arr. Aragón) 06:29
• Total Runtime 51:54

Info for Cuban Christmas

Christmas classics with Cuban grooves! ‘Cuban Christmas is a celebration of cultures, togetherness and the music that makes the Christmas season so magical,’ says Sarah Willis, horn player with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.

Together with her Cuban ensemble, Sarahbanda, she invites you to a very special Christmas celebration with this album.

The colourful, rousing energy of Cuban music meets timeless Christmas classics such as ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’, ‘Feliz Navidad’ and many more – some of them sung by Carlos Calunga, known from the legendary Buena Vista Social Club. The result is a ‘joyful mix of classics such as “Jingle Bells” and “Silent Night”, all infused with the irresistible groove of salsa, mambo, bolero and son’. Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite and Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 also take on a new look full of Cuban flair. A lively Christmas celebration with dancing around the Christmas tree is guaranteed!

The album further includes works by Bach and Tchaikovsky – these too reimagined with Cuban flair. “Cuban Christmas is a celebration of culture, connection, and the music that makes the season magical,” says Willis. “I truly hope it brings as much happiness to your home as it brought to mine while creating it.”

Sarah Willis, horn
The Sarahbanda

Sarah Willis
was born in Maryland, USA and holds British, American and German citizenship.

Her father’s work as a foreign correspondent took her family around the world and they lived in the USA, Tokyo and Moscow before moving to England when Sarah was 13. She began playing the horn aged 14 at school and then attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She went on to study full time at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where her teachers included Anthony Halstead and Jeff Bryant.

Sarah later studied with Fergus McWilliam in Berlin, where she became 2nd Horn in the Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim in 1991. During this time, Sarah played as a guest with many top orchestras performed worldwide as a soloist and in various chamber music ensembles.

In 2001, Sarah Willis joined the Berlin Philharmonic, becoming the first female member of the brass section. As well as her work with the orchestra and her masterclasses, which take her all over the world, she has recorded various acclaimed albums including the Brahms Horn Trio, `Horn Discoveries ́ the Rosetti Double Horn Concertos as well as the much celebrated CDs, Opera! and Four Corners! with the Berlin Philharmonic Horns. Her latest solo album, “Mozart y Mambo” was recorded in Havana in January 2020. It went straight to number 1 in the classical charts and also reached the pop and Latino charts. The accompanying video has been viewed over 10 million times online.

Sarah is involved in many of the Berlin Philharmonic education projects and especially enjoys creating and presenting their Family Concerts. She interviews conductors and soloists for the Digital Concert Hall and in 2011, she presented live to 33 million viewers during the Final Concert of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.

Sarah is passionate about music education and makes full use of digital technology and social media to reach audiences worldwide. She was chosen to be one of the first testers of Google Glass and used this experience to see how new technology could be used in classical music.

Sarah runs a popular series of online interviews known as the “Horn Hangouts”, is a regular broadcaster and interviewer on TV, radio and online and fronts the classical music programme Sarah´s Music for Deutsche Welle TV. She moderates the DG International Podcast series for Deutsche Grammophon and her latest award-winning documentary films, “Mozart y Mambo” and “A World without Beethoven?” and “Cuban Dances” were broadcast worldwide on the Deutsche Welle and Arte TV channels.

Sarah’s contributions to classical music were recognised at the highest level in the UK when she was made an MBE – Member of the Order of the British Empire – by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the Queen’s 2021 Birthday Honours List for services to charity and the promotion of classical music.

The Sarahbanda
Formed as part of the popular Mozart y Mambo project by Sarah Willis of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Sarahbanda explores the captivating Cuban dance rhythms in a way never heard before. How? By featuring an instrument not typically included in traditional Cuban band music – the French horn. The sound of Sarah´s horn combined with Cuban grooves played by some of Cuba´s most talented musicians creates an exciting and passionate group unlike any other.

With their exclusive new arrangements of some of Cuba’s best known songs such as Chan Chan and Sandunguera, original compositions by members of the band, and some classical-meets-Cuba surprises, the Sarahbanda brings a whole new sound —fresh, innovative, irresistible and one you simply have to get up and dance to!

The idea for the Sarahbanda came out of my Mozart y Mambo project with the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, a three-album fusion of the music of W.A. Mozart with Cuban rhythms.

With the Mozart y Mambo albums, as well as recording all of Mozart’s horn concertos (with a Cuban twist!), we also included a few pieces which experimented with the French horn joining the traditional Cuban band mix of saxophone and rhythm section.

Being part of a Cuban dance band with my French horn was something I found I absolutely adored. I’ve been a passionate salsa dancer for years and love the atmosphere of the dance clubs. My Mozart y Mambo experience made me want to play more Cuban music and take the horn/salsa band combo to the next level – despite the horn traditionally having no place in any such band, not just in Cuba. So I asked some of Cuba’s most talented popular musicians to join me in a new band and thus, the Sarahbanda was born.

We are now proud to present our first album Sarahbanda. On it, we explore the myriad of popular Cuban dance rhythms, adding the French horn into the mix. We pay homage to some of Cuba´s most famous songs, including Chan Chan, Sandungera and Contigo en la Distancia in stunning new arrangements by Jorge Aragón and Edgar Olivero. The two original pieces, Guajira Sencilla by Yuniet Lombida and Nostalgias by Aylín Pino, show how much love and respect the composers have for traditional Cuban music. And of course we have added a couple of `classical meets Cuban´ surprises too…!

We recorded this album in three days of fabulous acoustic sessions in the Traumton Studios in Berlin. It was the middle of winter and, although the temperature outside was many degrees colder than the Sarahbanda musicians were used to, they brought such warmth to the studio with their hot Cuban rhythms. We danced, we sang, we laughed, we improvised and I don´t think I have ever enjoyed a recording more.

I would like to say a huge thank you to Yuniet, Aylín, Jorge, Carlos, Alejandro and Adel for helping me to follow this crazy dream of a French horn player being part of a Cuban band and also for being great inspirations and great friends. They are simply some of the best musicians I have ever had the privilege to work with. (Sarah Willis)

Booklet for Cuban Christmas