Bram Van Sambeek - Biography

Bram van Sambeek was supported by BBT between 2011 and 2021. For an up-to-date biography please visit brinksartists.nl.

Bram van Sambeek is an international bassoonist and professor of bassoon at the Royal Conservatoire The Hague. He is known for his highly versatile approach to bassoon playing and for his innovative programming which is closely reflected in his recordings for the BIS label. He has recorded standard repertoire such as Mozart’s and Weber’s concertos, proposing an expansion to it by introducing an unknown Romantic bassoon concerto by Édouard Du Puy (BIS-2467).

He is passionate about presenting compositions by contemporary composers such as Kalevi Aho and Sebastian Fagerlund (BIS-2206) and is open to experiments with contemporary jazz (BIS-2453). He has realised a boyhood dream by making a rock album with his band ORBI (BIS-2297).

Bram van Sambeek is the recipient of the most prestigious Dutch award in the field of classical music, the Dutch Music Prize, and an alumnus of the Borletti-Buitoni Trust and The Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of New York’s Lincoln Center. As an orchestra musician, he played for ten years as principal bassoonist in the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and as a guest principal with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

As a soloist, he performs with orchestras such as the Gothenburg, Galicia and Netherlands Symphony Orchestras, the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra, Württemberg Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn and Camerata RCO.

A dedicated chamber musician, he made his recital début at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw in 2003 and is a regular guest at prestigious festivals and venues. In that context, he has regularly worked with Alexei Ogrintchouk, Reto Bieri, Hervé Joulain, Radovan Vlatkovich, Liza Ferschtman, Christoph Prégardien, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicolas Altstaedt and Rick Stotijn.

The BBT Trust is helping me very much with my ambition to make my professional life one big music festival. They possess great expertise and networks to help me, but even more importantly I see a sincere effort to grasp my specific needs. These characteristics make sure that the projects we do together are unique creative processes from the very start.

Photographs by Andrew Rankin