Sarah Willis: Mozart, mambo and life in the Berlin Phil

Sarah Willis

Sarah Willis, José Antonio Méndez Padrón and members of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra

Sarah Willis, Paula Ernesaks and the Berlin Phil Horns

Sarah Willis and the Havana Lyceum Orchestra

By Mark Pullinger, 03 April 2023

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“Cuban music got under my skin, into my blood”

Bachtrack, 16th March

How to defamiliarize Mozart’s well known piano concertos? This April pianist Cristian Sandrin joins the London Mozart Players for new chamber arrangements of three concertos, for solo piano and string quartet.

Street-smart and subversive: Ailish Tynan talks Così fan tutte

Jessica Duchen, 7th January

The Irish soprano talks about singing Mozart’s Così fan tutte with English National Opera, in London and Manchester – and how the wily Despina is the perfectly subversive character for her.

The magical world of composers’ handwriting

Lawrence Dunn, 17th December

From Buxtehude, Bach and Handel, to contemporary composer Liza Lim, we take a tour of the myriad forms of composers’ handwriting and calligraphy – and how music makes itself on the page.

Amadeus: envy, poison and an unfinished Requiem

Mark Pullinger, 2nd December

Fact v fiction: with a new television serialisation of Shaffer’s play about to screen, just how mediocre a composer was Salieri and how did the myth that Salieri poisoned Mozart take hold?

Sunshine and vitamins: Mozart’s Violin Concerto no. 5

Bachtrack, 10th October

The City of Birmingham Symphony’s leader talks about leading Mozart’s last Violin Concerto – a work full of sunshine, clarity and transparency.

Highest lustre: the complete Herbert von Karajan

Richard Bratby, 25th October

Deutsche Grammophon’s STAGE+ has assembled a comprehensive archive of Karajan’s recordings, concert films and opera performances – which did much to define the sound of classical music in the 20th century.

Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.