Cuban Christmas
Sarah Willis, The Sarahbanda
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 28th November 2025
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2026, Winner - Instrumentalist of the Year
The Cuban Nutcracker Suite stands comparison with Duke Ellington’s iconic 1960 reworking of the piece, with a sassily swung Overture showcasing Willis’s fabulous lower register and the Trepak...
Cuban Christmas
Sarah Willis, The Sarahbanda
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Recording of the Week, 28th November 2025
-
Opus Klassik Awards, 2026, Winner - Instrumentalist of the Year
The Cuban Nutcracker Suite stands comparison with Duke Ellington’s iconic 1960 reworking of the piece, with a sassily swung Overture showcasing Willis’s fabulous lower register and the Trepak...
About
Sarah Willis, horn-player of the Berliner Philharmoniker, announces her upcoming album Cuban Christmas. On it, she teams up with the Sarahbanda and together they inject the colourful, contagious energy of Cuban music into a selection of timeless holiday classics.
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.”
Contents and tracklist
- Cuban Christmas
Awards and reviews
-
Presto Recording of the Week28th November 2025
-
Opus Klassik Awards2026Winner - Instrumentalist of the Year
28th November 2025
The Cuban Nutcracker Suite stands comparison with Duke Ellington’s iconic 1960 reworking of the piece, with a sassily swung Overture showcasing Willis’s fabulous lower register and the Trepak reimagined as a riotous conga. But there’s delicacy aplenty too, especially in the spiced-up 'Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy' and the guajira-inflected 'Waltz of the Flowers'.