Sarah Willis Receives MBE
Sarah Willis Receives MBE
Sarah Willis, horn player and human extraordinaire, has been included in Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's Birthday Honours list to be awarded the title of MBE for her "services to Charity and for the promotion of Classical Music."
What the press release didn't mention is that Sarah is the Queen Mother of horn players worldwide, offering live Horn Hangouts online for anyone to join and witness the most skilled musicians around the world learn and banter with each other. Her humor and humility veil her own world class talent, as evident by the loving respect shown to her by her guests.
She is the Terry Gross of musical interviewers, representing Deutsche Grammophon and bringing life to the occasion with her ultimate Horn Challenges. Deutsche Welle produced her documentary "A World Without Beethoven", available on Prime Video, in which you see her interview the world's top musicians in rock, jazz, and classical music--including John Williams.
Sarah Willis travels from her appointment as horn player in the Berlin Philharmonic to Cuba, where she creates a critical bridge for the rest of us to receive the incredible joy of that wonderful country's music. Her Mozart Y Mambo recording gave Mozart just the boost he needed to hit the charts and become a viral hit.
Her flash mob horn concerts are worldwide. Oh yes, she can also do a wicked shoulder shake.
But it's her act of bravery and self-sacrifice to save a hedgehog that alone would merit award.
I join the rest of the world horn community in being particularly smug, thinking, I knew all along she was more than outstanding....
Sarah was the inspiration for my "Living With My Donkeys (Horn Version)."