Simon Eastwood

Caprice Arts Trust Foundation Artist - Double Bass

Simon received his first Classical Bass tuition from Victoria Jones. The following year Simon began studies in double bass at the Victoria University School of Music, despite having had his first lessons with Victoria only three months before his audition. He also began to pursue an interest in composition and eventually completed a double major in Performance Double Bass and Composition with honours in Composition at the New Zealand School of Music in 2007. He has had compositions performed by a range of well-known performers, including Dutch percussionist Arnold Marinissen and the New Zealand String Quartet.

In 2005 Simon won first place in the NZSM composer’s competition with /Tempest/ for amplified clarinet, double bass, and piano. In 2007 Simon was given the Jenny McLeod Orchestral Composition Award, and as a prize was commissioned to write his first work for full orchestra, /Aurum/, which was premiered by the NZSM Orchestra in October that year.

As a bass player, Simon has been in the National Youth Orchestra every year since 2004. He still plays bass guitar in a rock band called Moonlight Flit with two of his best friends from high school, they will soon be finishing their first album called the /Road to the Outside /(buy it!) and he still enjoys the occasional gig with a Jazz group, or even the odd 1920's dance band, or just about anything else for that matter.