What Would Mozart’s Music Sound Like if He Had Been Born in Cuba instead of Austria?
The Dvořák Prague Festival is offering an entertaining answer to that question with Mozart y Mambo, a unique blend of European and Latin music. Founded and led by Berlin Philharmonic horn player Sarah Willis, the project features some of Cuba’s most talented classical musicians playing Mozart standards, traditional Cuban music and lively combinations of the two.
“Although we’re crossing borders, I wouldn’t call it a crossover project,” says Willis. “It’s more like a fusion of two different worlds, with an eye toward revamping the way classical music is presented.”
A longtime fan of Cuban dance music, Willis had nothing more ambitious in mind than brushing up her salsa moves when she visited Havana in 2017. She was surprised to discover a thriving classical music community, and after playing with some of the musicians, became determined to show the world their talent. She recruited the Havana Lyceum chamber orchestra and native conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón, then recorded and released an album with them in 2020 that became a surprise international hit.
“Some of that was due to the timing,” she admits. “It was during the COVID lockdown, so happy music with smiling people dancing in the streets of Havana had a lot of appeal. And sitting at home, people had the time to explore it.”
But mainly, Willis feels, the album provided a revelation that listeners weren’t expecting. “Everybody knows that Cubans can play Cuban music, but they didn’t know how well Cuban musicians can play classical music,” she says. “The other thing they didn’t know is that a horn player from the Berlin Philharmonic could play something like Cuban music. So it was a crazy, crazy turnaround of events.”
There was also a revelation in the project for Willis, who found performing with enthusiastic young Cubans to be not unlike playing with her older, more professional colleagues in the Berlin Philharmonic.
“We all strive for perfection in the Berlin Philharmonic, nothing else is acceptable,” she says. “My Cuban musicians want to do nothing less. They may not be up to the standards of the Berlin Philharmonic, but they give their hearts and souls to the music. They play at 500 percent every night. And I’ve got to get on that rhythm train, or else I’ll be left behind.”
Mozart y Mambo has blossomed beyond anyone’s expectations, producing two follow-up albums, three documentary films and a spinoff group, the Sarahbanda, that features Willis playing with a Cuban dance band. The project has also toured extensively throughout Europe, selling out concerts this past summer in cities like Salzburg, Amsterdam, Lucerne and Vienna, and at major music festivals in Germany. So it’s no exaggeration when Willis describes Mozart y Mambo as a “life-changing experience” for everyone involved – including herself.
“People tell me I’ve done great things for the Cuban musicians, but I think it’s great what they’ve done for me,” she says. “They’ve completely changed my perspective, freeing me from the boundaries of what’s on the printed page, learning to be more relaxed in the music and willing to try new things.”
This fits larger concerns that Willis has about classical music, which is struggling to attract a younger generation of listeners and shake off some of its hidebound practices. “The music is amazing, but I think how it’s presented to audiences needs to change,” she says. “To reach new young audiences, we need to loosen up. At Mozart y Mambo concerts, we don’t let people just sit quietly in their seats and read the program. We walk them through what we’re doing with a lot of fun and a lot of laughs. Everyone leaves our concerts smiling and dancing, so it seems to be working.”
Willis has a long history in Prague, early on as a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra, through multiple performances with the Berlin Philharmonic that included a 2013 concert at Prague Castle with Magdalena Kožená, and two years as a judge for Concertino Praga. She is enthusiastic about coming back.
“Prague is a place I’ve always wanted to come to with this project, so I’m very grateful to Jan Simon for taking the plunge and inviting us to the festival,” she says. “I’m so happy to have an opportunity to show the Cubans around Prague, which I think is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And to bring Cuban music to the Czech Republic is like a dream come true.”
Adventuresome concert-goers will find plenty of fresh sounds in the performance. Four Cubans will play the solos in Mozart’s Serrenata Naturna, and Willis will be front and center for his Horn Concerto No. 3. “Those will show the audience how beautifully our musicians play classical music,” she says. Native skills will be showcased in Rondo alla Mambo, a Cuban variation on the horn concerto, and Carmen la Cubana, new treatments of four themes from the opera that Willis describes as “how Carmen would have been if she had lived in Cuba.”
Traditional Cuban music will fill out the bill, along with a surprise or two. Willis is reluctant to say exactly what, but she is willing to offer this teaser: “What if Dvořák had gone to Havana?”
By Frank Kuznik