New Zealand composer Simon Eastwood (b. 1989) cites a wide range of influences for his works from popular culture to European modernism, but also draws upon music from a variety cultures around the Pacific Rim. He has had works performed around the world by a variety of artists including Franck Ollu, CHROMA, Christopher Redgate, Stroma, and The BBC Singers. In 2009, Simon’s work “The Spindle of Necessity” was chosen to represent New Zealand at the Asian Composers’ League Festival in Korea. Simon received a BMus from the New Zealand School of Music in Wellington with first class honours in 2008 with Majors in both Composition and Double Bass. In 2010, Simon travelled to London to study towards a Masters from the Royal Academy of Music under David Sawer and Sir Peter-Maxwell Davies. After graduating from RAM with distinction in 2012, he went on to participate in a number of residencies in the UK, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Lithuania before returning home to Wellington in 2015 where he currently lives as a teacher and freelancer.