Sebastian Hanusa was born in 1976 in Dortmund, and he studied music education and philosophy in his hometown; later on he studied musicology at the Saarland University in Saarbrücken. In addition, he received his diploma in composition from Professor Theo Brandmüller at the University of Music Saar, and he studied electronic music under François Donato and Daniel Teruggi (GRM Paris / Forbach). He has worked as a freelance dramaturge with, among others, the composers Mauricio Kagel and Tom Johnson. Between 2004 and 2008 Sebastian Hanusa was music dramaturge at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. During the 2008/2009 season he had an engagement as dance and music dramaturge at Theater Magdeburg, and he was an opera and concert dramaturge at Oldenburgisches Staatstheater from 2009 to 2012. In this position he was also responsible for the dramaturgical support of klangpol, the new music network in Oldenburg and Bremen. In the season 2014/2015 he worked at Deutsche Oper Berlin (taking over for Dorothea Hartmann, who was on parental leave) as assistant to the principal dramaturge and artistic director at Tischlerei. He has been a dramaturge at Deutsche Oper Berlin since the season 2015/2016. He also works freelance as a composer and publicist for print media and radio, the latter with a focus on new music and contemporary music theater.