Sebastian Grand is Music Director of the McLean Symphony and the Delaware County Symphony in Aston, PA. He holds Assistant Conductor positions with the Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey and the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra, and he conducts the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia in an annual series. Mr. Grand was Principal Conductor of the Guernsey Sinfonietta from 2008-2015, and he has participated in numerous international conducting competitions, most notably as a finalist in the first Erich Bergel Conducting Competition in 2022. He is conductor of the Youth Orchestra of Bucks County’s Philharmonia, has worked as a coach and accompanist for the Philadelphia International Music Festival, and has held adjunct faculty positions at Lafayette College and George School. He directs the Grand School of Music in New Hope, PA, overseeing instrumental tuition for over 200 students.

Raised in Guernsey, UK, Mr. Grand is a first-class graduate of the Joint Course between the University of Manchester and the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). He received a master’s with distinction from the Royal Academy of Music in London. He was a participant on the Orkney Conductor’s Course, where he worked with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the Trondheim Soloists and the St. Magnus Festival Chorus, and he received a full scholarship to conduct the Orchestra of the Swan in a public master class with Kenneth Woods.

Mr. Grand co-founded the Odyssey Symphony Orchestra, which performed its debut concert in St. James’s Piccadilly in 2011, and in 2014 he conducted the Kew Sinfonia and Julian Jacobsen in a performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. Throughout England, he has conducted additional rehearsals for the Ealing Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the City, the Lord Williams Festival Chorus, the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia, and the St. Alban’s Chamber Choir. In addition, Mr. Grand conducted the University of Manchester String Orchestra’s 2009-2010 season and for the Royal Academy of Music’s Opera Scenes. Mr. Grand has served in Pennsylvania as a conductor for the Bucks County Music Educators’ Association (BCMEA) and as guest conductor for the Orchestra Society of Philadelphia.

As a pianist, Mr. Grand has been a concerto soloist, recitalist, accompanist, chamber musician, orchestral pianist and répétiteur. He made his concerto debut in 2008, receiving a standing ovation for his performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue and has since performed Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto no. 1 (University of Manchester Sinfonietta), Bartok’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Percussion (University of Manchester Symphony Orchestra), Grieg’s Piano Concerto (St. James Sinfonia), Saint-Saens’s Carnival of the Animals (Guernsey Camerata, Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey (CPNJ) and Mozart’s Concerto for 2 Pianos Guernsey Symphony Orchestra (GSO). He has performed at venues including Carnegie Hall, Bridgewater Hall, and the Barbican Centre.

Mr. Grand’s notable awards include winning three Hargreaves Prizes and the Procter-Gregg Prize at Manchester University, the Piano Duo Prize and the Clifton Helliwell Memorial Prize at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM), and the Dorothy Bryant Award at the Royal Academy of Music. He was also commended in the Christian Carpenter Piano Recital Prize and the Harold Craxton Piano Trio Prize while at the RNCM and was a prizewinner at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod. His formative years were spent learning with his father, Mervyn Grand, and Vanessa Latarche, professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He continued his studies with Ian Fountain, professor of piano and the Royal Academy of Music; Paul Janes, tutor of piano at the RNCM; and Vanessa Latarche, professor of piano at the Royal College of Music in London. Mr. Grand is an adjudicator for several piano competitions, including the Bart Pitman Memorial Scholarship and the Caprio Competition.

Always interested in developing new and exciting projects, Mr. Grand co-founded Guernsey-based new music group Terra Nova, has led a performance of In C for the Victor Hugo International Music Festival, and conducted Serenade for Shelter – a performance raising awareness for homeless charity Shelter, UK. Mr. Grand studied conducting with Martyn Brabbins, Charles Peebles, and Mark Heron and participated in master classes with Mark Shanahan, Clark Rundell, and Richard Boynage.