Bio 

Sebastian Buhts is a percussionist and conductor based in St. Louis, MO, and was recently appointed as Assistant Professor of Music and Director of Bands at Lindenwood University. He also serves on the percussion faculty at Washington University in St. Louis and St. Charles Community College.

In addition to teaching, Sebastian maintains an active and diverse performance schedule. Recent highlights include performing percussion with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducting the St. Charles County Symphony Orchestra, and performing solo marimba for the Orchestra of Northern New York. Sebastian is also an avid proponent of new music. He has performed world premieres at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, Cortona New Music Sessions in Cortona, Italy, and with chamber music ensembles throughout the U.S. and Germany.

As a specialist in North Indian tabla drumming, Sebastian has lectured at the Percussive Arts Society Michigan Day of Percussion, and regularly appears as a guest-artist at universities across North America. Sebastian 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. He has studied tabla intensively in Canada and India with Shawn Mativetsky and Pandit Kishor Kumar Mishra.

Sebastian received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University, where he studied with Gwendolyn Dease and Jon Weber. 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. Sebastian is a proud artist endorser for Marimba One and Black Swamp Percussion.