ORBI: The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments

• 1 Uprising (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 04:56
• 2 Since I've Been Loving You (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 07:02
• 3 Octavarium (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 16:19
• 4 Fight Fire with Fire (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 05:07
• 5 Hey You (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 04:39
• 6 Orion (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 07:16
• 7 Proclamation (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 06:24
• 8 Motivy 04:04
• 9 Pulling Teeth (Anesthesia) [Arr. B. van Sambeek for Chamber Ensemble] 03:24
• 10 Supermassive Black Hole (Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble) 03:31
• 11 Cthulhu (Arr. F. Magnus Maier for Chamber Ensemble) 05:48
• 12 Alabama Song (From "The Little Mahagonny") [Arr. M. van Prooijen for Chamber Ensemble] 03:18
• Total Runtime 01:11:48

Info for ORBI: The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments

There are instruments and then there are instruments … On the one hand a violin, trumpet or lead guitar so firmly planted in the spotlight that everyone else on stage is reduced to a supporting role. On the other a bassoon, double bass, drum set or Hammond organ, providing the harmonic and rhythmic backdrop against which the soloist can shine. But what if the background instruments rebel? What if they strike back?

The result can be heard on ORBI -the Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments: four musicians making their bass-heavy instruments howl and growl (and sing!) in a mix of symphonic rock, thrusting metal and a little blues, 100% instrumental and lead-singer free. Of this Dutch quartet, Bram (on bassoon) and Rick (double bass) both pursue high-profile careers in classical music. Marijn (percussion) is classically trained but also studied in West Africa and India, and is active in many musical genres as well as multimedia projects. And keyboardist Sven Figee, finally, plays jazz, pop and rock in various constellations. Choosing from their own favourite playlists, and with the help of arranger Marijn van Prooijen, they have come up with a mix of music and sounds that is as weird and wonderful as it is surprising and addictive. Worldwide release 1st of February, 2019.

ORBI:
Bram van Sambeek, bassoon
Rick Stotijn, double bass
Sven Figee, Hammond organ
Marijn Korff de Gidts, percussion

Bram van Sambeek
was the only bassoonist to receive the highest Dutch Cultural Award: The Dutch Music Prize, handed out to him personally by Minister of Culture Ronald Plasterk in 2009. On this occasion, Bram played the bassoon concerto by Gubaidulina with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and chief conductor Seguin. De Telegraaf newspaper wrote about this performance: “He uses his instrument freely as a mouthpiece, conjures the finest timbres, and is technically capable of doing anything.” In 2011 he won a Borletti Buitoni Trust Award, and has been admitted to The Chamber Music Society Two programme of New York’s Lincoln Center.

Bram van Sambeek performs regularly as a soloist with orchestras such as the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, The Gothenborg Symphony, the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, the Oulu Symphony, and the South Netherlands Philharmonic. Many composers, such as Vanessa Lann and Sebastian Fagerlund, have written concertos for him.

From 2002 until 2011 Bram was Principal Bassoonist of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and since 2009 he has been teaching the bassoon at the Conservatories in Rotterdam, Amsterdam and The Hague. Last season he started professorship exclusively at the Hochschule für Music und Tanz in Cologne. Bram has taught masterclasses at schools like Bloomington Indiana, the Royal College of London, and the Conservatory of Busan, Korea.

He played regularly as a Guest Principal with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. As a chamber musician he has worked regularly with Alexei Ogrintchouk, Jörg Widmann, Reto Bieri, Clara Andradas de la Calle, Hervé Joulain, Radovan Vlatkovich, Liza Ferschtman, Christoph Pregardien, Pekka Kuusisto, Nicolas Altstaedt and Rick Stotijn. In 2010 Bram was offered a Carte Blanche series in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and in 2015 he received a “Wild Card” consisting of many adventurous concerts at the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ, also in Amsterdam. He is a regular guest at festivals like the Delft Chamber Music Festival, Storioni Festival, Orlando Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and has investigated concert practice in cooperation with Radio Kootwijk Live, experimenting with innovations such as playing people to sleep.

In 2016 he was the spokesman of the “Save the bassoon” campaign set up by the Holland Festival. This lead to a lot of international attention and publicity for the instrument. Bram is very much interested in playing any style he likes, which leads him to work with rock musicians like Sven Figee in Konzerthaus Berlin, Jazz musicians like Joris Roelofs at the famous North Sea Jazz Festival, Arabic musicians like Kinan Azmeh in the Morgenland Festival, and improvisers like Ernst Glerum in the “Apples and Olives” festival in Zürich.

Bram decided to start playing the bassoon when he was ten years old, beginning his studies with Fred Gaasterland and continuing later with Joep Terwey and Johan Steinmann at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. After his graduation, he took private lessons with Gustavo Núñez. In addition, he has participated in masterclasses with Brian Pollard and two of the most important bassoon soloists in the world: Klaus Thunemann and Sergio Azzolini. Bram also plays on a very special bassoon, an instrument that has been played for many years by both these musicians. About working together with Bram, Yannick Nézet-Séguin remarked in a television interview available at www.bramvansambeek.com: “I think he is able to fall in love with many aspects of the music, and doesn’t set himself too many boundaries.” In another interview about Bram, Valery Gergiev remarked: “…all in all a combination of being artistically involved, motivated and being gifted, being a very nice person, and also being a little bit unusual!”

On his debut cd with Brilliant Classics, called ‘Bassoon Concertos’, he presented a very accessible programme of bassoon concertos by Vivaldi, Du Puy, Villa Lobos, and Olthuis, receiving rave reviews like this remark in the Dutch music magazine Luister: “Judging by his playing, Mr van Sambeek awaits a golden future.” In march 2012, Brilliant Classics released his second cd “Bassoon-Kaleidoscope,” which includes different chamber music pieces, as well as a rock song. In 2015-2016 Bram has performed the two new bassoon concertos by Sebastian Fagerlund and Kalevi Aho and recorded them for the BIS label with whom he has an on-going cooperation. His upcoming release for that same label will be a rock cd with his own band called O.R.B.I. (The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments).

Booklet for ORBI: The Oscillating Revenge of the Background Instruments