Early years

Bream was born in Battersea, London, England,[5] to Henry and Violet Jessie (née Wright)
Bream.[6] At the age of two he moved with his family to Hampton in London, where he was
brought up in a musical environment.[7] His father was a commercial artist and an amateur jazz
guitarist, who was unable to read music but had a finely attuned ear and could play a lot of
popular music.[6][8] His mother, a homemaker, had a warm and loving personality, but was deaf
to the beauty of musical sound.[8] His parents divorced when he was 14.[6] His grandmother
owned a pub in Battersea, and Bream spent much time there during his youth. The young Bream
was impressed by the playing of Django Reinhardt; he would later call his dog "Django".[3]

Bream began his lifelong association with the guitar by strumming along on his father's jazz guitar
at an early age to dance music on the radio. He became frustrated with his lack of knowledge of
jazz harmony, so read instruction books by Eddie Lang to teach himself.[9] His father taught him
the basics. The president of the Philharmonic Society of Guitarists, Boris Perott, gave Bream
further lessons,[5] while his father became the society librarian, giving young Bream access to a
large collection of rare music.

On his 11th birthday, Bream was given a small gut-strung Spanish guitar by his father.[5][4] He
became something of a child prodigy, at 12 winning a junior exhibition award for his piano playing,
enabling him to study piano and composition at the Royal College of Music.[10] Aged 13, he made
his debut guitar recital at Cheltenham on 17 February 1947;[11] in 1951, he debuted at Wigmore
Hall.[10]

Leaving the RCM in 1952, Bream was called up into the army for national service.[10] He was
originally drafted into the Pay Corps, but managed to sign up for the Royal Artillery Band after six
months. This required him to be stationed in Woolwich, which allowed him to moonlight regularly
in London with the guitar.[10]

Career

After two years in the army, he took any musical jobs that came his way, including background
music for radio plays and films.[6] Recording sessions and work for the BBC were important to
Bream throughout the 1950s and the early 1960s.[6] He played part of a recital at the Wigmore
Hall on the lute in 1952.[12] Bream pursued a busy career playing around the world. His first
European tours took place in 1954 and 1955, followed (beginning in 1958) by extensive touring in
the Far East, India, Australia, the Pacific Islands and many other parts of the world. Bream
performed for the Peabody Mason Concert series in Boston, first solo, in 1959, and later with the
US debut of his Consort.[13] 1960 saw the formation of the Julian Bream Consort, a period-
instrument ensemble with Bream as lutenist.[5] The consort led a great revival of interest in the
music of the Elizabethan era.[14]

In addition to master classes, Bream was tutor of the music summer school at Dartington.[15][5]

Later career

Bream (right) in Liechtenstein in 1985

In 1984, Bream seriously injured his right arm in a car accident.[3][6]

In 1991, BBC Radio and TV broadcast Bream's BBC Prom performance of Malcolm Arnold's Guitar
Concerto.[16] He also participated in a recital and concerto performances of works by Toru
Takemitsu at the Japan Festival in London with the London Symphony Orchestra.[17]

During the 1992–93 season he performed on two occasions at the Wigmore Hall – at their Gala Re-
opening Festival, and at a special concert celebrating his 60th birthday. In the same period, he
toured the Far East, visiting Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, and performed the premiere of
Leo Brouwer's arrangement for guitar and orchestra of Albéniz's Iberia at the Proms. In 1994
Bream made debuts in both Turkey and Israel to great acclaim, and the following year played for
the soundtrack to the Hollywood film Don Juan DeMarco.[17]

In 1997, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his debut, he performed a recital at Cheltenham
Town Hall. A few weeks later, the BBC dedicated a television tribute This Is Your Life programme
to Bream, filmed after a commemorative concert at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.[17][5]

Other engagements around that time included a gala solo performance at the Philharmonic Hall,
Liverpool; a Kosovo Aid concert at St. John's, Smith Square, London, with the Academy of St.
Martin in the Fields; recitals at the Snape Proms, Aldeburgh, and at the Norfolk and Norwich
Festival; and a tour of National Trust properties in summer and autumn 2000.[17]
In November 2001 he gave an anniversary recital at Wigmore Hall, celebrating 50 years since his
debut there in 1951.[17] His final recital was at Maddermarket Theatre, Norwich, on 6 May
2002.[11][6]

Style and influences

Bream's recitals were wide-ranging, including transcriptions from the 17th century, many pieces
by Bach arranged for guitar, popular Spanish pieces, and contemporary music, for much of which
he was the inspiration. He stated that he was influenced by the styles of Andrés Segovia and
Francisco Tárrega.[18] Bream had some "sessions" with Segovia but did not actually study with
him.[5] Segovia provided a personal endorsement and scholarship request to assist Bream in
taking further formal music studies.[19]

Bream's playing can be characterised as virtuosic and highly expressive, with an eye for details,
and with strong use of contrasting timbres. He did not consistently hold his right-hand fingers at
right angles to the strings, but used a less rigid hand position for tonal variety.[20]

Bream met Igor Stravinsky in Toronto, Canada, in 1965. He tried unsuccessfully to persuade the
composer to write a composition for the lute and played a pavane by Dowland for him. The
meeting between Bream and Stravinsky, including Bream's impromptu playing, was filmed by the
National Film Board of Canada in making a documentary about the composer.[21]

Recordings

Bream recorded extensively for RCA Victor and EMI Classics. These recordings won him several
awards, including four Grammy Awards, two for Best Chamber Music Performance and two for
Best Classical Performance.[22] RCA also released The Ultimate Guitar Collection, a multi-CD set
commemorating his birthday in 1993.[5][23]

Despite his importance as a classical guitarist, however, many of his RCA recordings (including the
series of 20th-century guitar music) were out of print for several years. In 2011, RCA released My
Favorite Albums, a 10-CD set of albums chosen by Julian Bream himself.[24] In 2013, RCA issued
Julian Bream: The Complete RCA Album Collection, a 40-CD set which also includes two DVDs with
The Lively Arts – Julian Bream: A Life in the Country, the 1976 BBC film; and four BBC shows:
Omnibus: Anniversary of Sir William Walton [1982], The Julian Bream Consort (1961), Monitor –
Film Profile of Julian Bream [1962], and The Julian Bream Consort (1964).[25]

Television and video

A film, A Life in the Country, was first shown on BBC TV in 1976.[26] In it, the narrator and Bream
discuss his beginnings and his life as a concert guitarist. Bream also presented a series of four
master-classes for guitarists on BBC TV.[27]

In 1984 he made eight film segments on location in Spain for Channel 4. The collection of
segments ¡Guitarra! A Musical Journey Through Spain explored historical perspectives of Spanish
guitar music.[28][29]

The 2003 DVD video profile Julian Bream: My Life in Music contains three hours of interviews and
performances. It has been declared by Graham Wade "the finest film contribution ever to the
classic guitar" and it became "Gramophone DVD of the year".[30][31]

Dedications and collaborations

Many composers worked with Bream, and among those who dedicated pieces to him were
Malcolm Arnold, Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Britten, Leo Brouwer, Peter Racine Fricker,
Hans Werner Henze, Humphrey Searle, Toru Takemitsu, Michael Tippett, William Walton and
Peter Maxwell Davies. Britten's Nocturnal is one of the most famous pieces in the classical guitar
repertoire and was written with Bream specifically in mind.[32] It is an unusual set of variations on
John Dowland's "Come, Heavy Sleep" (which is played in its original form at the close of the
piece).[4]

Bream also took part in many collaborations, including work with Peter Pears on Elizabethan music
for lute and voice,[33][18][5] and three records of guitar duets with John Williams.[9]

Personal life

Bream's first wife was Margaret, daughter of the writer Henry Williamson,[34] with whom he
adopted a son. After their divorce he married Isabel Sanchez in 1980.[35][6] That marriage also
ended in divorce.[4][6]
He lived for over forty years at Semley, Wiltshire, at first dividing his time between there and
Chiswick, London, then moving permanently in 1966 to a Georgian farmhouse in Semley, living
there until 2008.[36] In 2009 he moved to a smaller house at Donhead St Andrew, Wiltshire.[37]
Bream was keen on the game of cricket[10] and was a member of the Marylebone Cricket Club.[5]

Bream died on 14 August 2020, at his home at Donhead St Andrew, at the age of 87.[38]

Pieces written for Bream

Several compositions were written for Bream, including:[39]

Reginald Smith Brindle: Nocturne for Guitar Solo (1946)

Lennox Berkeley: Sonatina, op. 52, no. 1 (1957)

Britten: Songs from the Chinese for high voice and guitar, Op. 58 (1957)

Hans Werner Henze: Drei Tentos (Kammermusik 1958)

Denis ApIvor: Variations for Guitar, Op. 29 (1958)

Tristram Cary: Sonata (1959)

Malcolm Arnold: Concerto for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, op. 67 (1959)

Britten: Nocturnal after John Dowland, Op. 70 (1963)

Richard Rodney Bennett: Impromptus'(1968)

Tom Eastwood: Ballade-Phantasy (1968)

Peter Racine Fricker: Paseo (1969)

Reginald Smith Brindle: Variants on two themes of J. S. Bach (1970)

Richard Rodney Bennett: Guitar Concerto (1970)

Malcolm Arnold: Fantasy, op. 107 (1971)

Alan Rawsthorne: Elegy (1971)

William Walton: Five Bagatelles (1972)

David Lord: Soliloquy (1973)

Humphrey Searle: Five (1974)

Lennox Berkeley: Guitar Concerto, Op. 88 (1974)

Henze: Royal Winter Music (first sonata, 1976)

Giles Swayne: Suite, Op. 21 (1976)

Peter Maxwell Davies: Hill Runes (1981)

Michael Berkeley: Sonata in One Movement (1982)

Richard Rodney Bennett: Sonata (1983)

Michael Tippett: The Blue Guitar (1984)

Giles Swayne: Solo for Guitar (1986)

Leo Brouwer: Concerto elegiaco (Guitar Concerto No. 3) (1986)

Toru Takemitsu: All in Twilight (1987)

Leo Brouwer: Sonata (1990)

Peter Maxwell Davies: Sonata (1990)

Toru Takemitsu: Muir Woods (In the Woods) (1996)

Harrison Birtwistle: Construction with Guitar Player: Beyond the White Hand (2013)
(Commissioned by the Julian Bream Trust)

Leo Brouwer: Ars Combinatoria (Sonata No. 5) (2013) (commissioned by the Julian Bream Trust)

Awards and recognitions

1964: Officer of the Order of the British Empire[40]

1964: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1964 for
Evening of Elizabethan Music performed by the Julian Bream Consort[22]

1966: Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music[17]

1967: Grammy Award for Best Classical Performance – Instrumental Soloist or Soloists (with or
without orchestra) at the Grammy Awards of 1967 for Baroque Guitar (Works of Bach, Sanz,
Weiss, etc.)[22]

1968: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Surrey[41]

1968: Edison Award[42]

1972: Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) at the
Grammy Awards of 1972 for André Previn (conductor), Julian Bream & the London Symphony
Orchestra for Villa-Lobos: Concerto for Guitar[22]

1973: Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance at the Grammy Awards of 1973 for
Julian Bream & John Williams for Julian and John (Works by Lawes, Carulli, Albéniz, Granados)[22]

1974: Edison Award[42]

1976: Villa-Lobos Gold Medal (presented by the composer's widow)[5]

1981: Fellowship of the Royal College of Music[40]

1983: Fellowship of the Royal Northern College of Music[40]

1984: Honorary Doctorate from the University of Leeds[40]

1985: Commander of the Order of the British Empire[40]

1988: Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society[17]

1996: Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist's Award[43]

1999: Doctor of Philosophy from London Guildhall University[44]

2009: Honorary Doctorate from the Open University[45]

2013: Gramophone Classical Music Awards – Lifetime Achievement[35][46][3]

Discography

LPs

Recordings by Bream include:[47]

The Art Of Julian Bream (November 1960), RCA Victor LSC-2448

Guitar Concertos (January 1961), RCA Victor LSC-2487

The Golden Age of English Lute Music (September 1961), RCA Victor LDS-2560

An Evening Of Elizabethan Music (1963), RCA Victor LDS-2656 (reissued March 1971 as LSC-3195)

Julian Bream: Rodrigo, Vivaldi Concertos, Britten Dances from "Gloriana" (1964), RCA Victor LSC-
2730
20th Century Guitar, RCA Victor LSC-2964

70's, RCA ARL1-0049

Dedication, RCA ARL1-5034

Julian Bream Plays Dowland, CLP 1726

A Bach Recital for the Guitar, Westminster CLP 1929

Baroque Guitar (1966), RCA

The Classical Guitar (3 – LP set), Westminster WMS −1029

Collection of the Greatest Performances of Julian Bream, Vol. II, Westminster

Concertos for Lute and Orchestra, RCA ARL1-1180

Dances of Dowland, RCA LSC-2987

Elizabethan Lute Songs, RCA LSC-3131

Elizabethan Music by The Julian Bream Consort, RCA LSC-3195

The Golden Age of English Lute Music, RCA LSC-3196 RCA LD-2560

J.S. Bach Lute Suites Nos. 1 and 2 (1966), RCA LSC-2896

Julian & John, 1972 RCA LSC-3257

Julian & John/2, 1974 RCA ARL1-0456

Julian Bream's Greatest Hits, Westminster

Julian Bream's Greatest Hits Volume Two, Westminster 9008-8185

Lute Music of John Dowland, RCA ARL1-1491

John Dowland: 14 Lute Pieces, Westminster W-9079

Music for Voice and Guitar with Peter Pears, RCA LSC-2718

Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar, RCA

Rodrigo: Concerto De Aranjuez, Berkeley Guitar Concerto (1975), RCA

Sonatas for Lute and Harpsichord—Bach, Vivaldi with George Malcolm, RCA LSC-3100

Villa-Lobos, Twelve Etudes for Guitar, Suite populaire bresillienne (1978), RCA

Julian Bream, The Art of the Spanish Guitar (1970) RCA SRS 3002
The Woods So Wild, RCA LSC-3331

¡Guitarra!: The Guitar in Spain (1985), RCA (contains material not on the CD)

CDs

Fret Works (1990), MCA ASIN B00000DWBQ

Guitarra: The Guitar in Spain (1990), RCA ASIN B000003EOU

Joaquin Rodrigo: Concerto Elegiaco/Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre (1990), RCA ASIN B00000E6E7

Julian Bream plays Bach (1990), RCA ASIN B000003EOG

Julian Bream Plays Granados & Albéniz (Music of Spain, Volume Five) (1990), RCA ASIN
B00000E68D

Music of Spain, Vol. 7 (1990), RCA ASIN B00000E697

Two Loves with Peggy Ashcroft (1990), RCA ASIN B00000E6FM

Baroque Guitar (1991), RCA ASIN B000003F1J

La Guitarra Romantica (1991), RCA ASIN B000003F0G

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Villa-Lobos: Preludes (1991), RCA ASIN B000003EPS

Romantic Guitar (1991), RCA ASIN B000003EQA

Baroque Guitar (1993), RCA ASIN B000025HGT

A Celebration of Andrés Segovia—Bream (1993), RCA ASIN B000009JN3

Highlights from the Julian Bream Edition (1993), RCA ASIN B000003FKP

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre No1-5 (1993), RCA ASIN
B000003FI4

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Takemitsu: To the Edge of Dream with Simon Rattle and the City
of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1993), Capitol ASIN B00000DNS6

Together/Julian Bream & John Williams (1993), RCA ASIN B000003FDM

Together Again/ Julian Bream & John Williams (1993), RCA ASIN B000003FDN

Villa-Lobos: Guitar Concerto; Preludes; Etudes with André Previn and the London Symphony
Orchestra (1993), BMG International ASIN B000024RKH

Bach Guitar Recital (1994), EMI Classics ASIN B000002RU9

Bach: Lute Suites, Trio Sonatas (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FG2

Guitar Concertos (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FG4

Julian Bream Consort, Vol. 6 (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FFX

Music of Spain (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FG6

Popular Classics for Spanish Guitar (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FFY

Romantic Guitar (1994), RCA ASIN B000003FFZ

Sonata (1995), Angel ASIN B000002RUX

20th Century Guitar I (1996), RCA ASIN B000003FG0

The Golden Age of English Lute Music (1996), RCA ASIN B000003FFW

Music for Voice & Guitar (1996), RCA ASIN B000003FG1

Music of Spain: Milán, Narváez (1996), RCA ASIN B000003FG5

Popular Classics for the Spanish Guitar (1997), RCA ASIN B000003G9U

Julian Bream Edition, Volume 1: The Golden Age of English Lute Music (28 CDs) (1998), RCA ASIN
B000003FFV

The Romantic Hours (1998), RCA ASIN B000003FSG

Spain—Sor, Vol. 24 (1998), BMG Classics ASIN B000025HGH

Guitar Concertos (1999), RCA ASIN B00000HZS3

Guitar Music by Albeniz, Vivaldi, Rodrigo & Grandos (2 CDs) (1999), RCA Classics/BMG ASIN
B00002DFHV

Woods So Wild (1999), RCA ASIN B00000HZS6

Nocturnal: Martin, Britten, Brouwer, Lutoslavski (2000), EMI ASIN B000002RTP

The Ultimate Guitar Collection (2 CDs) (2000), RCA ASIN B00004UEH6

Duos de Guitares with John Williams (2001), RCA ASIN B00005I9SO

Spanish Guitar Music (remastered) (2001), Deutsche Grammophon ASIN B00005OLDN

Spanish Guitar Recital (2001), RCA ASIN B00005OC01

Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez; Fantasía para un gentilhombre; Tres piezas espanolas; invocacion
y danza (remastered) (2004), RCA ASIN B0002DD67Y
Spanish Guitar Recital (2004), ASIN B000026GX4

Guitar Recital: Bach, Sor, Turina, Tippet, Schubert (2005), Testament ASIN B0009UC6L2

Music of Spain (2005), RCA ASIN B0009U55QA

Elizabethan Lute Songs, Decca ASIN B000ICGD06

Julian Bream & Friends, Musical Heritage Society ASIN B000294GJK

Lute Music from the Royal Courts of Europe, BMG Classics ASIN B000G27DIO

Music of Spain: The Classical Heritage, RCA ASIN B0001GH54C

My Favorite Albums, RCA/Sony Classical ASIN B001DD0HPG