Born in Saskatoon, Canada, Bede Hanley began learning the oboe at nine, eventually going on to earn his Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Ohio, where he studied with John Mack, legendary principal oboe of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Following several seasons with Spain’s Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in La Coruña, Mr Hanley, admired for his “gorgeous tone and buoyant phrasing", first joined the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra as Section Principal Oboe for the 2008 and 2009 Seasons. He was then appointed Principal Oboe of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Canada, a position he held for four years, before rejoining the APO in 2013.

Mr Hanley's playing has garnered press plaudits at home and abroad, recently from William Dart in the New Zealand Herald, who described his oboe solo in Bach's St Matthew Passion as “heart-stopping" and in a Bachtrack review of Arvo Pärt's Collage sur B-A-C-H Simon Holden wrote his “soulful oboe solo was shaped with achingly beautiful simplicity."

Mr Hanley has performed in many symphony and opera orchestras internationally including the Cleveland Orchestra, the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Ottawa, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Real Filharmonia de Galicia, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Tenerife, the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra with whom he was acting principal oboe, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia in its annual Mozart Festival and the Rossini Festival Orchestra in Pesaro, Italy.  

A frequent soloist, Mr Hanley has an extensive concerto repertoire.  His performance of Christopher Rouse’s oboe concerto, a premier outside the US, was praised by the composer for its “beauty and aplomb”.  In October, 2020, Mr. Hanley performed the world premiere of Gary Kulesha’s Concerto for Oboe and Orchestra with Giordano Bellincampi and his colleagues in the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.  John Daly-Peoples of the New Zealand Arts Review wrote “Bede Hanley gave a thrilling performance. (His) oboe danced through the orchestra, his playing effortlessly ranging over the playful, lyrical and soulful, at times providing intense shards of light and extraordinary riffs. In his long faultless solo he managed to span the full range of the instrument, both musically and emotionally.”  The Canadian premiere, with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra, received a standing ovation. This tour-de-force concerto was written for Mr. Hanley.

Mr Hanley is also an active chamber musician. In Canada he was a member of the Canadian Oboe Trio and also performed in Winnipeg's Chamber Music Society, Groundswell, and the Phoenix Collective, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, the Music Niagara Festival, the Banff Centre’s Margaret Greenham Series and the Festival of the Sound.  He performs regularly with his colleagues in the APO’s In Your Neighbourhood series and the Tīeke Trio.  In 2021 Mr. Hanley was featured by Chamber Music New Zealand in the Fantasy and Romance tour.  He has also given recitals in Canada, the USA, Spain, Australia and New Zealand. Recently, Mr. Hanley performed the IDRS premier of the Gary Kulesha Concerto for Oboe in recital with piano.

Inspired by his teachers and mentors, Bede has taught oboe in North and South America, Europe, and Australasia. An Artist Teacher at the University of Auckland, Bede has been on faculty at the Universities of Western Ontario and Manitoba and is now a busy private teacher and music coach in the Auckland community. Joining the John Mack Oboe Camp faculty in 2022 was a life highlight!