New Zealand-based composer and bass player Simon Eastwood has a diverse practice, including orchestral and chamber works, electronic pieces, and improvisation. He studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington and his most recent work revolves around ‘re-interpretive collaboration’ with non-classical musicians, poets, painters, and video artists. In his doctoral project at the NZSM: Plant this Seed: Grow a Garden, Simon invited collaborative partners to transform one of his pieces in their own way. He, in turn, composed new music in response to each of these works and compared outcomes. The resulting pieces are diverse and yet intimately connected, illuminating the interwoven nature of communal creativity even in cases where individual backgrounds, methods, and interpretations differ significantly.
He has attended residencies and festivals in the UK Bulgaria, Estonia, Alaska, Austria, Turkey, and Lithuania. His works have been performed around the world by artists including the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, CHROMA, Now Hear Ensemble, Alia Musica, Christopher Redgate, Kadri-Ann Sumera and Talvi Hunt, Stroma, Ensemble Gô, Franck Ollu, Martynas Levickis, Rubiks Collective, Corvus, the New Zealand String Quartet, and the BBC Singers.
In 2021, GRAMMY-nominated percussionist Justin DeHart included his set Silver Wind, Golden Earth, White Water on ‘Landfall’, a collection of New Zealand percussion music released by Rattle Records.
In 2024, he was appointed Mozart Fellow at the University of Otago|Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka.