Sebastian Bäverstam, cello

Winner, 2009 CAG International Competition

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Praised by The Strad for his “…powerfully expressive style,” cellist Sebastian Bäverstam is a winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition.  He is also a winner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Concerto Competition, resulting in a performance of the Shostakovich Concerto with the BSO at Symphony Hall.  In 2007, Mr. Bäverstam was called on to substitute for Lynn Harrell with the Cape Cod Symphony on only six hours notice. He delighted the audience playing Schumann’s Cello Concerto and was praised by the Cape Cod Times for his “insightful musicianship and poetic feeling.”

Highlights of his upcoming concert schedule include New York recitals at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, as part of the CAG Winners Series, and at Merkin Concert Hall, as well as performances at St. Vincent College (PA), the Honest Brook Music Festival (Delhi, NY), and in Boston, Connecticut and Switzerland.

Sebastian Bäverstam, age twenty, has appeared multiple times on the nationally syndicated radio show From the Top, and he has also been heard on international radio broadcasts on Voice of America.  On television, he was featured on the PBS TV version of From the Top, and he has participated in a PBS documentary filmed at Carnegie Hall, as well as a film by the Masterclass Media Foundation of Great Britain and a nationally televised commercial for Bose speakers.

As a concerto soloist, Mr. Bäverstam has performed with the Albany Symphony Orchestra, Boston Civic Symphony, Brockton Symphony Orchestra, Concord Symphony Orchestra and the Chernikov Symphony Orchestra, among others, and has toured China, Venezuela and Brazil as soloist with the New England Conservatory Youth Philharmonic Orchestra

Committed to performing music of our time and to working with living composers, Mr. Bäverstam was the 2006 winner for contemporary interpretation at the Johansen International Competition for String Players.  He has attended many summer festivals including the Aspen Festival, the Banff Centre in Canada, the Verbier Festival Academy and the International Music Academy of Switzerland, directed by Seiji Ozawa.

Mr. Bäverstam offered his first full recital at the age of six at Harvard University and his first concerto with orchestra at the age of seven.  In 2002 at the age of fourteen, he made his Weill Hall debut. Since then he has given numerous solo recitals, recently performing all six Bach cello suites at Williams College.  He appeared as the featured young artist of the 2005 Williamstown Chamber Concerts and has also performed at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, the ASCAP awards at Lincoln Center, the Théatre des Champs Elysées in Paris and many other venues.

Additional recognition for Sebastian includes the 2006 Harvard Music Association Young Artist Award, the New England Chamber Music Foundation Award in 2004, first place in the 2002-2003 and the 2000-2001 New England Conservatory Preparatory School Concerto Competitions, the 2002 Suzuki Association of America and the International Young Virtuoso Competition of 2001-2002.

A dual citizen of the United States and Sweden, Sebastian Bäverstam has participated in master classes with Frans Helmerson, Orlando Cole, Pieter Wispelwey, and Bernard Greenhouse, among others, and he currently studies with Paul Katz at the New England Conservatory in Boston.