Carlos Federico Sepúlveda, born and raised in Medellín (Colombia), studied with Cecilia Espinosa and Lise Frank at the Instituto Musical Diego Echavarría in Medellín. He then completed studies in choral conducting and orchestral conducting with Urs Lajovic, Günther Theuring, Erwin Ortner and Johannes Prinz at the Musikuniversität Wien, graduating with honors in 2001. In 2005 he completed postgraduate studies in early music theory at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. Since then he has been active at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis as a lecturer in theory subjects and as director of musical projects. He is the program director of the Master in Music Performance, the Specialized Master, as well as the MAS AVES (Advanced Vocal Ensemble Studies). From 2016-2022 he acted as deputy to Thomas Drescher, director of the SCB. Since September 2022 he has been a member of the collaborative management of the Schola.
Federico Sepúlveda has been instrumental in bringing historical performance practice to greater prominence in music education in Colombia: He is the initiator of the master's degree in music at the Universidad Central in Bogotá, with a strong focus on the historical context. He was also the artistic director of the educational project "Música antigua para nuestro tiempo" (Early Music for our time) in Colombia, which was carried out for over 15 years by the Schola Cantorum and the Banco de la República. These and other projects under his direction paved the way for a wide range of opportunities to perform early music in Colombia.
Sepúlveda has conducted the Vienna Chamber Choir, the Orchestra of the City of Granada, the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Bratislava Radio Orchestra and the Yucatán Symphony Orchestra, among others. He works with numerous choirs and ensembles and is the director of the ensemble Ars Humana. Since the foundation of La Cetra Vokalensemble Basel in 2012, he has been its director / maestro al coro. Historical approaches in music education for children are of special interest to him, for example in specific projects in collaboration with the Instituto Musical Diego Echavarría, as well as in the project of the SCB Music School "Oy...cantemos!"-learning music as it was 500 years ago.