Sebastian Stevensson is Principal Bassoon of the Danish National Symphony Orchestra and teaches bassoon at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. Born into a musical family in Sigtuna, Sweden, in 1987, he initially studied the clarinet before switching to the bassoon at the age of ten.
In 2004, he began his studies at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Knut Sönstevold, before moving to Mannheim, Germany, in 2008 to continue his studies with Ole Kristian Dahl.
In the autumn of 2009, Sebastian moved to Oslo, where he worked at the Norwegian National Opera. A year later, he moved to Copenhagen to take up a position as Principal Bassoon with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, becoming a permanent member of the orchestra in 2012. In Denmark, he also teaches bassoon at the Royal Danish Academy of Music and has performed with the DiamantEnsemblet at the Royal Danish Library. Since 2019, he has been a member of the chamber ensembles Trio Nastela and Crusell Trio.
In 2015, Sebastian also served as Principal Bassoon of the Munich Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev. As a guest musician, he has performed with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne and Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sebastian has given masterclasses for music students in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Poznań, Höör, Aarhus, Sarteano, Malmö and Mannheim.
In January 2016, Sebastian became the first bassoonist to win the Royal Swedish Academy of Music’s prestigious Soloist Prize for young Swedish instrumentalists and singers. In 2014, he also won the international Gillet-Fox Bassoon Competition in New York.
As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras including the Duisburg Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica de Minas Gerais, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s in New York, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Västerås Sinfonietta, Musica Vitae, Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Stockholm Symphonic Wind Orchestra, the Swedish Army Band and the Royal Danish Lifeguards’ Music Band.
Sebastian has also given the world premieres of bassoon concertos by Fredrik Högberg, Jonas Valfridsson, Greger Fellin and Andrea Tarrodi.