Simon Svoboda

Biography

Simon Svoboda loves music. Growing up in Australia with two musical parents, Simon has been immersed in all kinds of music since birth. As his parents had a beautiful Eugenio Degani (1892) cello in their possession, they thought it would make sense to get one of their children to start playing the cello, and since his sister (Helen) gravitated towards the piano, Simon began playing the cello at age 7.

Simon is currently studying his Masters in Cello Performance with Tuomas Ylinen at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Since moving to Helsinki in August 2019, Simon has had the opportunity to play chamber music with people such as Marko Ylönen, Jan Söderblom and Alexander Zemtsov (to name a few), and has been playing regularly with various orchestras in Finland and Norway such as the Helsinki Philarmonic Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Tampere Filharmonia and Finnish Chamber Orchestra (among others). Simon is also part of Trio Meri, with two incredible Estonian musicians (Triinu Piirsalu and Tähe-Lee Liiv), mentored by legendary Finnish pianist Martti Rautio.

Prior to moving to Helsinki, Simon has studied at the University of Queensland with Patrick Murphy and at the Australian National Academy of Music with Howard Penny. Simon has also participated in masterclasses and lessons with Troels Svane, JeanGuihen Queyras, Johannes Moser, Martti Rousi, Marko Ylönen and Jian Wang.

In Simon’s spare time, he enjoys playing in his jazz-fusion/groove-based band ‘The Biology of Plants’, surfing, drinking coffee, watching bad TV shows and hanging out with dogs.