Peter Bree
Peter Bree is a Dutch oboist and broadcaster. He was born in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, Netherlands.
He received his first oboe lessons from John Schreuder. He made his debut when he was 15. He studied English language and literature at the University of Groningen. Subsequently from 1973 he studied oboe at the Amsterdams Muzieklyceum with Han de Vries and later, with a scholarship from the Dutch Cultural Ministry, in London with Neil Black.
Peter Bree initially worked for some years as a teacher of English at secondary schools in Amsterdam, before being appointed oboist with Dutch radio, where he played in the Metropole Orkest. He later concentrated mostly on concert and chamber music, making many radio and CD recordings: compositions dedicated to him of, among others, Edmund Rubbra, Abel Ehrlich, Jan Koetsier, Leo Samama and Ruud Bos, and the complete oboe sonatas of François Devienne that he edited and published together with Dr Bernard Rose . UK debut: May 1976 at Pembroke College chapel, Oxford and London. He also performed in Amsterdam and in France. He performed in Belgium with the Brussels Chamber Orchestra. In 1981 he and pianist Paul Komen had the honour and privilege of being granted a private audience with Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother at Royal Lodge, Windsor Great Park to present Her Majesty with their LP with works by Rubbra, Britten and others. Also in 1981 he received the Silver 'Vriendenkrans' award of the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. In 1988 he was awarded an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Music from the Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna International University Foundation in Malta and Delaware. He gave the first performance in the Netherlands of Grace Williams' Carillons and of Michael Berkeley's Oboe Concerto, Both performances were recorded for Dutch radio. In 1994 he stopped playing the oboe professionally. Dr Bree suffered a stroke in mid-2017, and after the sudden and unexpected death of his best friend and companion Jur Zandbergen on Christmas Eve 2017 he more or less retired from public and musical life.
From 1980 to 1983, Peter Bree worked as a radio producer with Dutch broadcasting company AVRO, and later as radio presenter and producer with Veronica broadcasting company from 1984 to 1992, from 1994 to 1998 with Concert Radio, and from 1998 again with AVRO. In 1986/87 he was a member of the panel of adjudicators of the Bratislava International Music Festival.From 1984 till the end of 2010 he could be heard as presenter of classical music programmes and concert broadcasts on the Dutch classical music channel Radio 4. Much to his chagrin Dutch public broadcasters did not renew contracts with its radio presenters who were older than 60. In 2011 he compiled a CD box to mark the 70th birthday of Han de Vries, entitled "Han de Vries – The Radio Recordings". This was followed in 2017 by a second CD box to mark Han de Vries's 75th birthday, with the title "Han de Vries – The almost last recordings".
In 1980, he founded together with Yehudi Menuhin the Live Music Now foundation in the Netherlands, of which he was vice president until he stepped down in 1985. From 1987 until its dissolution in 2022 he was chairman of The Academy of the Begijnhof, Amsterdam. He was a contributor to the Dutch CD magazine Disk in 1991/92, a member of the adjudicating panel of the classical Edison Award in 1996 and 1997, and a member of the advisory committee of the Thuiskopie Fonds in 1999 and 2000. He was also a member of the Comité d'Honneur de l'Association Internationale de Musique and on the board of the foundation that organized the Double Reed Festival 1995 in Rotterdam. From 2001 till 2009 he was a member of the board and chairman of the programme committee of the Netherlands Bach Society. On his initiative a new bridge in the Amsterdam Zuidas quarter was named after the composer Lex van Delden; the Lex van Deldenbrug was officially opened on 15 October 2013.
Recordings
– with conservatoire chamber orchestra and flautist Leo Samama, 1975– with soprano Christine Harvey, 1975
– with Chr. Gem. Zangvereniging Jubilate Deo, Woudenberg, 1978
– with Telemann Ensemble, 1981
– with organist Jaap Zwart Jr, 1981
– with pianist Jan Slothouwer, 1981
– with pianist Paul Komen, 1981
– with pianist Paul Komen, 1982
– with Wegenbouwkapel Nederland, 1983
– with Roderick Shaw, fortepiano, 1990/91