Mozart y Mambo

Even though a Mozart monument has stood in Havana’s old town since 2012, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart never set foot in Cuba. Yet for the past few years, Sarah Willis, a member of the Berliner Philharmoniker horn section, has been showing how wonderfully well his music harmonizes with Latin American sounds and rhythms. Using the “Mozart y Mambo” rubric, she has joined forces with Cuban conductor José Antonio Méndez Padrón and the young musicians of the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, combining the best of both worlds on three CDs to date. In Lucerne, she will also pair works from the Classical period — a feather-light Salzburg symphony and what was likely Mozart’s final horn concerto, K. 412 — with such Cuban evergreens as Veinte Años and Guantanamera. Edgar Olivero will transform the bold final theme from another Mozart horn concerto (K. 495) into a rousing, groovy rumba, while Ernesto Oliva will incorporate traditional Cuban melodies into his orchestral suite with a captivating, dance-like swing. It’s no wonder that Sarah Willis and José Antonio Méndez Padrón like to top off their performances with a salsa routine!