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Sarah Willis was born in Maryland, USA and holds dual citizenship, British and American.

Her father was a foreign correspondent and her family lived in the USA, Tokyo and Moscow before moving to England when she was 13. She began playing the horn aged 14 at school and then attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department. She went on to study full time at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where her teachers included Anthony Halstead and Jeff Bryant.

She later studied with Fergus McWilliam in Berlin, where she became 2nd Horn in the Berlin State Opera under Daniel Barenboim in 1991. During this time, Sarah played as a guest with many top orchestras such as Chicago Symphony, London Symphony and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and performed worldwide as a soloist and in various chamber music ensembles.

In 2001 Sarah Willis joined the Berlin Philharmonic, becoming the first female member of the brass section. She has recorded various acclaimed CDs including works such as the Brahms Horn Trio and the Rosetti Double Horn Concertos as well as the much celebrated CDs Opera! and Four Corners! with the Berlin Philharmonic Horns.

Sarah is involved in Zukunft@BerlinPhil Education projects and enjoys creating and presenting BPh concerts for children. She also interviews conductors and soloists for the BPh´s Digital Concert Hall and in 2011 she presented live to 33 million viewers during the Final Concert of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra.