Julian Bream is one of the most famous classical guitarists of the twentieth century and he has achieved worldwide fame not only for the guitar but also for his work with the Renaissance Lute.
He is considered to be one of the most important ambassadors of the classical guitar and has formed a solid bridge between the music of the past with the technology of today.
He helped usher the classical guitar into the modern age.
He was born in 1933 and took up the classical guitar on his eleventh birthday when he received one as a present. He was already an accomplished musician having studied piano and cello but with the classical guitar and lute he excelled.
Significant Contributions
In 1960 he formed a group called the Julian Bream Consort. It was an Elizabethan period ensemble for which Bream played the lute. This Consort brought about a revival in interest of the Elizabethan era which is considered to be a period of time that was the absolute pinnacle of the English Renaissance. His work with this group earned him a Grammy award for best chamber music performance. This award would be the first of many awards which include three more Grammy awards.
One of the most important contributions he made to the world of the classical guitar was his development of a complete repertoire for performance. His transcriptions of works for guitar and lute span five centuries and he has particularly focused on lute works from the Elizabethan era and Spanish guitar works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has also had many composers create works specifically for him.
Ambassador to the media of the Twentieth Century
Bream has embraced television and radio and used these media to bring classical guitar and lute to a mass audience. His 2003 DVD video profile Julian Bream: My Life in Music, which is a three hour long piece, includes interviews and performances and is considered to be one of the finest contributions ever made to the world of Classical Guitar. He has also created a British television series entitled Guitarra! It charts a musical journey across Spain.
Learn More about Him
If you are looking to read more about him there is a newly published book called The Art of Julian Bream. If you are looking to experience some of his music you might want to start with his collaborative work with John Williams. They are a two volume set entitled Together and Together Again. If you want a more encompassing view of his music as it spans the decades he has a two volume CD set called The Ultimate Guitar Collection. The first CD is a compilation of many of his transcriptions and the second CD focuses on his works for Spanish guitar.
Julian Bream is one of the greatest classical of the modern day. His tireless performance and work with the guitar has spanned many decades of personal performance and many centuries of music. He has bridged the gap between the past and the future by giving us an enormous repertoire of music in just about every modern mode of media from CD to television and film. And it is his particular gift for transcription and interpretation that has enabled him to bring five centuries of plucked instrument music into the modern world.
