ABOUT 

Juan Sebastián Acosta is a choral and orchestral conductor with a focus on professional choral work and music theatre. Since August 2022, he has served as Chorusmaster of the Arnold Schoenberg Choir at the Theater an der Wien, where he is responsible for the choral preparation of a stylistically wide-ranging repertoire spanning from classical modernism to contemporary opera, and regularly collaborates with renowned conductors and stage directors.

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A central focus of his artistic work is music education with children, adolescents, and young musicians. Since 2018, he has been the conductor of the Children’s and Youth Orchestra of the Allegro Vivo Festival in Lower Austria, where he works continuously on musical quality, ensemble culture, combining joy and enthusiasm with disciplined and efficient rehearsal work. In 2025 and 2026, he is also engaged as a conductor with jungPHIL – The Young Philharmonic Orchestra of Southern Vorarlberg.

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Alongside his artistic activities, Juan Sebastián Acosta is active as a teacher and lecturer. From October 2024 to 2025, he served as a lecturer (substitute) in choral and ensemble conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. Previously, within the "Monsterfreunde" programme of the Vienna Board of Education, he led children’s choirs and developed innovative approaches to music education at primary school level. He is also a faculty member for choral conducting at the International Choral Academy Krems (ICAK).

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He completed his musical training at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, earning master’s degrees in choral conducting (studying with Erwin Ortner) and orchestral conducting (with Uroš Lajovic and Mark Stringer), complemented by studies in voice and piano. Prior to this, he studied conducting and horn at the Conservatory of the National University of Colombia. Further artistic inspiration came from masterclasses with, among others, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and Peter Schreier.

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From 2019 to 2023, he was Musical Assistant to the Vienna Singakademie (the choir of the Vienna Konzerthaus), gaining extensive experience in the symphonic choral repertoire. His engagements have included work as Musical Assistant to Andrés Orozco-Estrada with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony (R. Strauss: *Elektra*), Music Director of the Catalonia Youth Opera, and Chief Conductor of the Orchestra of the Vienna University of Technology (TU-Orchester Wien). He conducted his diploma concert with the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra at the Musikverein.

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Juan Sebastián Acosta was awarded in 2023 with the "Erwin Ortner Prize" for Choral Conducting.