Bram Van Sambeek - About

BBT 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.

Bram van Sambeek is on a mission for his chosen instrument, the bassoon. Noted in his native Netherlands as spokesperson for Holland Festival’s ‘Save the Bassoon’ campaign, Bram’s musical interests are as diverse as his enthusiasm is irrepressible. Alongside the classical repertoire and contemporary music, he is a founder member of ORBI – the ‘Oscillating Revenge of Background Instruments’, an ensemble that puts the bassoon and other instruments such as double bass, drums and Hammond organ into the spotlight.

Bram’s BBT Award opened the door to performance opportunities in London, including as one of the featured soloists in BBT’s Wednesdays at Wilton’s series and an IAMA conference showcase which brought him to the attention of BIS Records. He also purchased a baroque bassoon, further extending his potential repertoire, and was the subject of a BBT profile film, Running Against the Wind.

But most of all he chose to commission works. The first was a bassoon concerto from Sebastian Fagerlund, Mana, which was later recorded by BIS with further support from BBT, and won the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Concerto Award. For his second commission he turned to prolific Finnish composer Kalevi Aho to create a Double Concerto for Two Bassoons, which he went on to perform with the principal bassoonists of orchestras in Poland, Spain and Belgium.

Bram was supported with a BBT Award between 2011 and 2021.

For a current biography please visit brinksartists.nl

Read Bram’s blogs: Busy Bassoonists Begin the New Year here; Undaunted by Extreme Challenge here; Bassoon space travelling here; and Sebastian Fagerlund’s Bassoon Concerto Step 1 here

Press Releases: Extreme Bassoon  / Concerto Winner at BBC Music Magazine Awards 2018

Photographs by Joris-Jan Bos and Andrew Rankin