Juan Sebastián Cardona Ospina is a Colombian composer currently based in Berkeley, California. His music often begins with a story: a phrase from a novel, a painting’s atmosphere, or the echoes of popular music. He draws on literature, visual art, and vernacular traditions to build deeply personal sound worlds that invite new readings and new feelings.

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His orchestral piece Negra espalda del tiempo was awarded the Bogotá Philharmonic Composition Prize in 2017. In 2019, his choral-orchestral work Cuando fui mortal won Colombia’s National Composition Competition. His music has been performed, awarded, or recorded by the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, University EAFIT Symphonic Orchestra, Caldas Symphonic Orchestra, UC Davis Concert Band, Syracuse University Wind Ensemble, and others.

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Juan Sebastián earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Composition from the University of Memphis, where he studied with Kamran Ince, John Baur, and Mahir Cetiz. He holds a Master of Music from Universidad EAFIT, where he studied with Víctor Agudelo, and a Bachelor’s in Music Education from the University of Caldas, where he studied with Juan Carlos Valencia, Jaime Jaramillo, Héctor Fabio Torres, and Daniel Ramírez. He has also studied privately with Gustavo Parra, Juan Carlos Padilla, César Cano, and James Díaz. In 2015, he received a national honor for academic merit at La noche de los mejores, presented by the President of Colombia.

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Until 2022, he was a Lecturer in Composition at the University of Caldas. Now living in the Bay Area, he continues to compose and collaborate with artists such as pianist Sarah Cahill and saxophonist Michael Hernandez, while working with organizations like Quinteto Latino and Musaics of the Bay. Alongside his creative work, he remains a passionate educator, committed to awakening a love for music, art, and life in his students and peers.