Tomas Djupsjöbacka, Cello
Tomas Djupsjöbacka became a member of the 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 in 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.
Tomas is increasingly devoting his time to conducting, which he has studied privately with Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Music director of the New York Metropolitan Opera. Additionally he completed formal training at the renowned program of the Sibelius Academy in 2017 and has also participated in master classes by Jorma Panula.
Since his conducting debut in 2013 with the Ostrobothnian Chamber Orchestra, Tomas has appeared with most of the Finnish orchestras including debuts with the Finnish Radio Orchestra, the Helsinki Philharmonic, Sinfonia Lahti and Oulu Sinfonia. He has premiered works by Jukka Tiensuu, Veli Kujala, Sampo Haapamäki, Mikko Heiniö and Sampo Kasurinen often teaming up with unusual partners such as dancers, jugglers or foley artists. He also enjoys the double role of directing concerti from the cello.
Tomas Djupsjöbacka was appointed Principal conductor and artistic director of Vaasa City orchestra in 2021. He worked as the first ever Principal Guest Conductor of the Lapland Chamber Orchestra 2019-2022.