Bree van Reyk is an Australian percussionist and composer, born in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. She is now based in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

Career

Across her career Bree van Reyk has worked within classical, jazz, rock, and experimental music performances and groups. She has worked with the

Australian Chamber Orchestra The Australian Chamber Orchestra (ACO) is an Australian orchestra focused on chamber music based in Sydney. History The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975.Verghis, Sharon"Bach with more bite pays off" ''T ...

and

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney. With roots going back to 1908, the orchestra was made a permanent professional orchestra on the formation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932. ...

and played with Paul Kelly,

Holly Throsby Holly Sarah Throsby is an Australian musician and novelist. Her work as a solo artist has produced six albums. She was nominated for an ARIA Award for Best Female Artist in 2006 for '' Under the Town''; and in the same category in 2008 for '' ...

, Gurrumul, Seeker Lover Keeper, Lior, Darren Hanlon, and others. As a child, she started learning piano before switching to the drums at age 10 and would practise by playing along to albums by

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

and

Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock music, rock band formed in London in 1968. The band comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist-keyboardist John Paul Jones (musician), John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham. With a he ...

. She has listed

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

's drummer

Moe Tucker Maureen Ann "Moe" Tucker (born August 26, 1944) is an American retired musician, singer, and songwriter who achieved international fame as the drummer of the rock band the Velvet Underground. Tucker occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, ...

as an influence. She later studied at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

School of Music. During the 1990s and early 2000s she was a member of rock group Rebel Astronauts with Emma Hoy, Matt McBeath, and Tom Roberts. They released three singles and one mini-album, and were likened to

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). Mogwa ...

and

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. In 2010 she collaborated with Nick Wales for the soundtrack to dance work ''Happy As Larry.'' It was later released as an album. She was artist in residence at

Campbelltown Arts Centre Campbelltown Arts Centre (CAC) is a multidisciplinary contemporary arts centre located in Campbelltown, New South Wales, south west of Sydney, Australia. History and description Campbelltown Arts Centre opened in 2005, located on the traditional ...

in 2015 where she collaborated with artist Kate McIntosh on ''In Stereo.'' The two musicians performed their piece sitting back-to-back, playing on a variety of percussive instruments and found objects. In 2019 she created a new piece for the Canberra Youth Orchestra which was performed at that years Canberra International Music Festival. In 2020 she partnered with the

Sydney Chamber Opera Sydney Chamber Opera is an opera company based in Sydney, Australia. It is a resident company at Carriageworks. The company was founded in 2010 by Louis Garrick and Jack Symonds. Its first production was in February 2011 and it has since produce ...

for her opera ''The Invisible Bird'' as part of the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

's Composing Women program. The opera was presented online due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

restrictions in place at the time. She contributed percussion on Nat Bartsch's album ''Hope'', which was nominated for an ARIA Award in 2021. Her debut album is due for release in 2022 on the independent label Hobbledehoy. It will feature

Mick Turner Mick Turner (born 1960) is an Australian musician and artist. He is the founding mainstay guitarist for Dirty Three and has had art exhibitions around Australia and internationally. Previously he was a member of the Sick Things, the Moodists ...

and Jim White of

Dirty Three Dirty Three are an Australian instrumental rock band, consisting of Warren Ellis (musician), Warren Ellis (violin, keyboards), Mick Turner (electric guitar, organ and bass) and Jim White (drummer), Jim White (drums), which formed in 1992. Their ...

. The first song ''Superclusters, Pt. II'' was released in January 2022.

External links

*
Interview with Bree van Reyk
(2016)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:van Reyk, Bree Living people Australian percussionists 1978 births Australian women musicians