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Award-Winning Cellist Sebastian Bäverstam Performs at the Center for the Arts

The Center for the Arts 2012-2013 Recital Series at Pepperdine continues with a performance by cellist Sebastian Bäverstam at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10, at Raitt Recital Hall, Malibu. Bäverstam's program will include Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Major, op. 119, by Prokofiev; Suite Italienne for Cello and Piano by Stravinsky; and Sonata for Cello and Piano in G Minor, op. 19, by Rachmaninoff. 

Praised by The Strad for his "...powerfully expressive style," Bäverstam is a winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. His recent performance at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall was noted in The Strad for its "consummate instrumental mastery," with critic Dennis Rooney declaring "...the emergence of a mature artist." This recital led to Bäverstam's subsequent selection by Musical America as its "New Artist of the Month" for June 2011.

Having performed across the country in 2012, his featured concerto performances include the DuPage (IL) and Mankato (MN) symphony orchestras (Strauss' Don Quixote) and the South Bay Symphony in Myrtle Beach, SC (Saint-Saëns' Concerto No. 1).

Bäverstam, age 23, 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 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.

A winner of the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Concerto Competition, Bäverstam performed the Shostakovich concerto with the BSO at Symphony Hall. In 2007 he 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."

Committed to performing music of our time and to working with living composers, Bäverstam was the 2006 winner for contemporary interpretation at the Johansen International Competition for String Players. He offered his first full recital at the age of six at Harvard University and his first concerto with orchestra at the age of seven. He made his Weill Recital Hall debut in 2002.

Additional recognition 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 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, 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.

The 2012-2013 Pepperdine Recital Series is sponsored by the Kwong family. Performances in the Recital Series feature emerging artists and typically take place in the intimate 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall. The final recital of this season will feature Petrit Ceku, 2012 Parkening International Guitar Competition Gold Medalist, on Sunday, March 3.

Tickets, priced at $25 for the public and $10 for full-time Pepperdine students, are available now by calling (310) 506-4522. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787. For more information, visit the Center for the Arts website.