Bio
Sebastian Buhts is a conductor, percussionist, and educator based in St. Louis, MO. He currently performs as Principal Timpanist and Percussionist with Union Avenue Opera and teaches percussion and North Indian tabla drumming at Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to these appointments, he served as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Lindenwood University where he conducted Wind Ensemble, Orchestra, Athletic Bands, and Percussion Ensemble.
Sebastian maintains an active and diverse performance schedule. Recent highlights include conducting “Meet Me In St. Louis” for the St. Louis Blues 2024 Opening Video, guest conducting the St. Charles County Symphony Orchestra, and conducting as a clinician for the orchestra, wind ensemble, and percussion studio at the National Taiwan University of Arts in Taipei. As a freelance percussionist, Sebastian performs regularly with orchestras such as the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Metropolitan Orchestra of St. Louis.
An avid proponent of solo and chamber music, Sebastian has performed solo marimba recitals for the Orchestra of Northern New York Summer Chamber Music Series as well as world premieres at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Cortona New Music Sessions in Cortona, Italy, and with chamber ensembles throughout the U.S. and Germany.
Sebastian holds a special interest and passion for North Indian tabla drumming. In addition to creating a course at Washington University in St. Louis about tabla, Sebastian has lectured on tabla at the Percussive Arts Society Michigan Day of Percussion, and regularly appears as a guest-artist at universities across North America. Sebastian taught tabla at the 2025 Strike Institute and was the featured tabla soloist at the 2022 St. Louis Literary Award ceremony, honoring Booker Prize winner and New York Times best-selling author Arundhati Roy. Sebastian’s doctoral dissertation analyzes the form and structure of a traditional tabla solo in the North Indian musical lineage known as the Benares Gharana.
Sebastian received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University, where he studied with Gwendolyn Dease and Jon Weber. He studied tabla intensively with Shawn Mativetsky and for six months in Varanasi, India with Pandit Kishor Kumar Mishra. His Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees are from Belmont University, where he studied with Christopher Norton. Additionally, Sebastian studied orchestral percussion and timpani at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden, Germany, and at the Aspen Music Festival and School. He is a proud artist endorser for Marimba One and Black Swamp Percussion.
Sebastian lives in St. Louis with his wife Erin and dog Okra. In his free time, he enjoys staying active in CrossFit, yoga, cooking, pulling shots of espresso, traveling, and learning from other cultures.
