Born in Bogotá in 1980, Juan Sebastián Acosta started his musical education at the Conservatorium of the Columbian National University in 1992 where he received his diploma in 2002. He refined his studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, where he completed a master of arts in orchestral conducting with Uroš Lajovic and choral conducting with Erwin Ortner. Conducting master classes with Andrés Orozco-Estrada in Vienna and Bogotá, as well as Liedinterpretation master classes with Peter Schreier (Hochschule für Musik Weimar, 2006) supplemented his artistic training.

Since March 2014, Juan Sebastián Acosta has held the position of Principal Conductor of the Orchester of the Vienna University of Technology as well as Music Director Opera Jove de Catalunya Barcelona. As a conductor, he has also worked with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia, the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá, the Filharmonia Śląska, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, the Filharmonia Podkarpacka (Rzeszów, Poland) and the Philharmonic Orchestra Lugansk (Ukraine).

At the Opera de Sant Feliu Llobregat in Barcelona and at the Auditorio Municipal Terrassa, Juan Sebastián Acosta conducted Donizetti’s L’ elisir d’ amore, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Tosca, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Verdi’s Rigoletto. In 2013, he made his debut at the Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden, conducting Mozart’s Così fan tutte, and conducted performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio with Vienna’s Orchester der Technischen Universität in 2015.

As a singer, Juan Sebastián Acosta has been a member (chorus tenor and soloist) of the Arnold Schoenberg Chor Vienna under the baton of Erwin Ortner since 2003. In 2010, he performed Erster Gefangener in Beethoven‘s Fidelio conducted by Claudio Abbado at the Lucerne Festival, which was recorded by DECCA.

In 2010, Juan Sebastián Acosta was awarded the First Prize at the „Professor Dichler Wettbewerb 2012“ in Vienna. In November 2012, he was Semi-Finalist at the „IX Grzegorz Fitelberg International Competition for Conductors“ (Filharmonia Śląska, Katowice). Since September 2019, he has been the assistant to the artistic director of the Wiener Singakademie.