Biography

“…young rising star in the very beginning of his career who is for the upcoming years, going to be the face outwards for EPTA Sweden and a positive role model for upcoming generations” — 2022/23 EPTA-Sweden (European Piano Teachers Association) Sebastian Iivonen (b.1997) was born in Stockholm, Sweden where he began his piano studies at the age of six with Natalia Kazimirovskaia and Tamara Poddubnaya. He has studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm/Edsberg Manor under Mats Widlund, and received his Bachelor's degree from Ingesund College of Music, Arvika, where he currently studies under prof. Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist. 

Sebastian made his debut with the Stockholm Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of conductor Lina Gonzáles-Granados, in August 2024, performing Mozart's Double Concerto K. 365 at the Stockholm Concert Hall.

At the age of 9, Sebastian was the winner of 2007 Steinway Piano Competition in Stockholm. A year later, he made his concerto debut at the at the Stockholm Concert Hall with the Stockholm Youth Symphony-Orchestra (SUSO) performing Kabalevsky Piano Concerto No.3 where the magazine “RUMBA” wrote; “It is touching to see a ten-year-old handle the piano on that level”. Then at the age of 12, Sebastian made his sold-out solo recital debut at the Centro Cultural in Los Cristianos, Tenerife in 2010. In the same year, he was also awarded with the prestigious “Mai von Rosens Scholarship” in Stockholm. 

In 2012, Sebastian was invited by ”The Vladimir Spivakov Foundation” to perform at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow. Since then, he has won first prizes at 2008 Concours International de Piano “Simone Delbert Fevriér” in France, 2009 Concours International de Piano Côte D’azur in France, Stockholm International Music Competition in 2010/2011/2012/2015, 2016 “Young Artists” Stockholm and 2016 Nilüfer Piano International Music Competition in Turkey. 

Sebastian is both active as a soloist and a chamber musician in various important national and international music festivals in Europe and U.S.A. He has received masterclasses with internationally recognized artists and professors such as Rena Shereshevskaya, Stephen Kovacevich, Leif Ove Andsnes, Konstantin Scherbakov, Sergei Edelmann, Paul Roberts, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, Roland Pöntinen et al. 

In 2022 Sebastian represented Sweden in two major international piano competitions in both 76th Concours de Genève and 64th Busoni International Piano Competition. In June 2023, Sebastian achieved a remarkable feat by securing a spot as a semifinalist in the highly acclaimed ITURBI International Piano Competition held in Valencia, Spain. With an initial pool of 185 talented applicants, Sebastian emerged as one of the selected few to make it to the semifinals, where only 10 coveted spots were available. Sebastian's music has been featured on prominent radio stations, including Swedish Radio P2, DR P2 Klassisk, and BBC Radio 3.

Since 2020, Sebastian has been the Artist-in-Residence at the Ingesund Piano Center in Arvika, Sweden where he is currently studying with prof. Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist. Sebastian was appointed as the ambassador for EPTA-Sweden 2022-23 (European Piano Teachers Association) where he is described as a “…young rising star in the very beginning of his career who is for the upcoming years, going to be the face outwards for EPTA Sweden and a positive role model for upcoming generations”.