Background
Bree, Peter was born on September 23, 1949 in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, Netherlands. Son of January Hendrik, and Adriana (Hoogenboezem) Bree.
Bree, Peter was born on September 23, 1949 in Driebergen-Rijsenburg, Netherlands. Son of January Hendrik, and Adriana (Hoogenboezem) Bree.
Student English language and literature Student with Han de Vries, Amsterdam Muzieklyceum (now Sweelinck Conservatoire), 1973-1979, diplomas in Teaching, Orchestral, Soloist, Cor Anglais, Chamber Music, 1979-1981. Student with Neil Black (Dutch Cultural Ministry scholar, London), 1980-1981.
He received his first oboe lessons from John Schreuder. He later concentrated mostly on concert and chamber music, making many radio and Civil Defense recordings: compositions dedicated to him of, among others, Edmund Rubbra, January Koetsier and Ruud Bos, and the complete oboe sonatas of François Devienne that he edited and published together with Doctor Bernard Rose (Magdalen College, Oxford). He was invited in 1981 to present his LP with works by Rubbra, Britten and others to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.
In 1988 the Marquis Giuseppe Scicluna International University Foundation in Delaware awarded him an honorary doctorate in music (Doctorate Music Honorary) "for services to music".
In 1994 he stopped playing the oboe. 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. From 1984 till the end of 2010 he could be heard as presentor of classical music programmes and concert broadcasts on the Dutch classical music channel Radio 4.
In 2011 he compiled a Civil Defense box to mark the 70th birthday of Han de Vries, entitled "Han de Vries – The Radio " (Oboe Classics Central Committee 2024). In 1980, he founded together with Yehudi Menuhin the Live Music Now foundation in the Netherlands, of which he was vice president till 1985.
From 1987 he has been chairman of The Academy of the Begijnhof, Amsterdam.
On his initiative a new bridge in the Amsterdam Zuidas quarter (designed by architect Liesbeth van der Political) was named after the composer Lex van Delden. The bridge was officially opened on 15 October 2013.
From 2001 till 2009 he was a member of the board and chairman of the artistic committee of the Netherlands Bach Society (Nederlandse Bachvereniging).