Biography

Dual citizen of Sweden and the USA, Sebastian Bäverstam is a cellist, pianist, and composer as well as a librettist, improviser, and conductor. In his spare time he is passionate about gaming of all kinds including board games, computer games and card games along with archery, physical training, and the hiking. He designed and manufactured an original board game called "Dragon Soul" which is in stores in Boston and available online.

Sebastian grew up in Newton, MA, and studied music intensely from a young age. He performed extensively in the Boston area with his family of musicians who called themselves “The Bäverstam Chamber Players”.  As a teenager, Sebastian focused exclusively on the cello and toured with his youth orchestra under the direction of Benjamin Zander in South America and China, performing Dvorak’s cello concerto as well as Strauss’s Don Quixote.

Bäverstam attended the New England Conservatory where he studied with renowned cellist and pedagogist Paul Katz. After winning the 2010 Concert Artists Guild competition, he moved to New York to pursue a soloist's career. During this time, Bäverstam made his official debut at Carnegie’s Weill recital hall in 2012 where his playing was praised by The Strad magazine for its "consummate instrumental mastery".  

After several short tours throughout the United States, Sebastian shifted his focus to study composition full time. He studied privately for several years with Alla Elena Cohen of Berklee, and then at the Royal Conservatory of Stockholm in 2019 with Per Mårtensson. Sebastian made his foray into a double career as performer and composer with the launch of his cello concerto in Boston described by the Boston Musical Intelligencer as "radically new, speaking in its own “never heard before but understood by all” idiom of emotion.” Currently working on an opera involving characters inspired by a video game, Bäverstam recently released a new CD album titled “Settling Old Scores” with his long time duo partner pianist Constantine Finehouse which can be found on iTunes, Amazon and Spotify.

Since 2020, Baverstam started teaching privately from his home in Newton and has grown a fondness for communicating the passion for music with students of all ages and levels.

Musical Education:

Undergraduate Diploma, New England Conservatory of Music. June, 2011.
Boston, MA.

Cello with Paul Katz, Ronald Feldman, Andrew Pearce, Yeesun Kim, Andrés Díaz, Richard Aaron.

Master classes with Timothy Eddy, Gary Hoffman, Frans Helmerson, Martha Gershefsky, Orlando Cole, Stephen Doane, Alexander Bailee, Ralph Kirshbaum.

Highest Level Certificate with Honors, New England Conservatory Preparatory School. June, 2007. Boston, MA.

Ravinia Festival 2012; Verbier Festival & Academy 1999, 2006 & 2007; Seiji Ozawa Music Academy Blonay, Switzerland 2006; Carteret Cello Festival Normandie, France 2006; Encore Music Festival 2005 & 2003; Rockport Maine Festival Next Generation Concerts 2003 & 2004; Greenwood Music Camp 1997-2002 & 2004.

Composition with Larry Bell, Rodney Lister, Alla Cohen. Piano with Margaret Bachelder.

Composition master classes with Gunther Schuller, Donald Martino, John Harbison.

Awards and Competitions:

2010 Winner Concert Artists Guild International Competition

2006 First Prize Boston Symphony Concerto Competition

2006 Johansson International String Competition, Best Interpretation of
Commissioned Piece

2006 Harvard Music Association Young Artist Award

2005-2006 Featured Artist in Brookline Friends of Chamber Music Series

2005 Featured Young Artist for Williamstown Chamber Music Concerts

2004 New England Chamber Music Foundation Winner for Shostakovich interpretation

2004 First Prize Quincy Symphony Concerto Competition

2003-2004 First Prize Newton Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition

2003-2004 First Prize Brockton Symphony Concerto Competition

2003 First Prize Concord Symphony Concerto Competition

2002-2003 and 2000-2001 First Prize New England Conservatory Preparatory School Concerto Competitions

Performance Highlights:

2019, April. Premiere of original work for sextet at the Royal Hall of the Royal Conservatory of Stockholm in Sweden.

2019, August. Solo recital at the Atheneum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. 

2019, March. Premiere of original cello concerto reduction at the Mazer Chamber Music Society in Stockholm, Sweden.

2018, March. Performed Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations with Mclean Symphony Orchestra in Virginia.

2016, October. Performed full recital with ensemble Zubabu at Grace Episcopal Church in Virginia.

2015, June. Performed at the Fundação Maria Luisa e Oscar Americano in Saõ Paulo, Brazil.

2014, December. Performed full recital at the Wiener Saal, Mozarteum.

2013, November. Performed Elgar Cello Concerto with Chicago University Orchestra.

2011, January. Performed debut recital at Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall.

2008, January. Performed Beethoven Triple Concerto with Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra.

2007, May and June. Performed Dvorak Concerto with New England Conservatory’s Youth Philharmonic Orchestra in Boston’s Jordan Hall and on tour in China.

2007, March. Performed full recital as winner of Harvard Music Association Award.

2007, January. Performed Schumann Cello Concerto as substitute for Lynn Harrell with the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra.