Tomas Djupsjöbacka, Cello

Tomas Djupsjöbacka became a member of COE in 2007. His main cello teachers were Patrick Demenga and Martti Rousi. After winning the second prize in the 1998 National Cello Competition in Turku, Finland, he has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Finland and abroad. Tomas plays a rare Lorenzo Storioni cello, made 1780 in Cremona.

The roots of Tomas’s musicianship lie in chamber music and he is a founder member of the string quartet Meta4. The quartet was greatly influenced by studies with Hatto Beyerle and Johannes Meissl amongst others in the European Chamber Music Academy (ECMA). Meta4 received first prizes in the international competitions in Moscow and Vienna and were a BBC3 Young Generation Artist in 2008-2010. Meta4 regularly performs in key cultural cities and concert halls around the world and has a discography including quartets by Haydn (ECHO Preis 2010), Shostakovich (Finnish Record of the year 2013) and Bartók as well as discs with a selection of Finnish contemporary composers like Saariaho, Fagerlund and Kuusisto. They also expand the role of a string quartet by directing chamber orchestras without conductor.

In recent years Tomas has also developed a keen interest in conducting. He has attended masterclasses with Jorma Panula, receives regular private coaching from Yannick Nézet-Séguin and has just completed his studies at the conducting class of the Sibelius Academy. Tomas has already appeared as a conductor with several orchestras in Finland, making his subscription debut with the Finnish Radio in October 2016.