Simon Eastwood

Composer and bass player Simon Eastwood completed a MMus with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London 2012, where he studied composition with David Sawer and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. He then spent several years working in London also attending residences in Dartington, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Lithuania, before returning to New Zealand in 2015.

As a composer, he cites a wide range of influences on his music from popular culture to the avant-garde. Subsequently, his own compositions encompass a range of styles. Eastwood’s works have been performed around the world by artists including Franck Ollu, Martynas Levickis, CHROMA, Christopher Redgate, Stroma, Rubiks Collective, the New Zealand String Quartet, and The BBC Singers. He also holds a BMus in Double Bass performance and Composition/Sonic Arts from the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington as well as a DMA in Composition.

In 2018, Eastwood was the inaugural recipient of the SOUNZ Commission for Emerging Players. His work, Infinity Mirror seeks to evoke intergenerational notions that surround music practice. This ties in with the work that he did with the youth ensemble, Arohanui Strings. He now teaches composition at the New Zealand School of Music, is the President of the Composers' Association of New Zealand (CANZ) and became the Mozart Fellow of Otago University in 2024.