Eric Mahl

In addition to being our Associate Conductor, Eric Mahl is the Music Director of the Northport Symphony Orchestra, Geneva Light Opera Company, Philharmonia Orchestra at Third Street, and Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra. Eric also serves as faculty/festival ensemble conductor at the Charles Ives Music Festival. He is the founder and Music Director of OrchestraOne, an NYC-based non-profit that has community involvement and participation as its foundation.

Known for his contagious energy and passion both on and off of the podium, Eric aims to captivate audience and orchestra members alike through unique and engaging musical experiences. He hopes to demonstrate music’s power to create positive change, and expand classical music’s audience through community partnership and holistic, proactive efforts to welcome any and all peoples into the concert hall. 

Eric has collaborated with world-class and Grammy-winning musicians and soloists from orchestras such as the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Houston Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic. Eric feels at home in any and all musical environments, consistently working with professional, semi-professional, community and youth orchestras — all of which have provided invaluable insights into the needs and priorities of different ensembles and communities.

A fervent supporter of New Music, Eric frequently conducts various New Music ensembles in the Greater NYC area, performing more than twenty world premieres and commissioning nine pieces for full orchestra. These and other projects have led to collaborations with professional and student composers, including the world premieres of fully-staged operas, ballet, and countless small and large ensemble pieces of all genres and instrumentations. Eric is a frequent arranger, most recently having his arrangement of four piano pieces by Nathaniel Dett performed by the Northport Symphony Orchestra in January 2024.

As a passionate educator, Eric has personally taught all ages and instruments at public and private schools throughout New York City and frequently works with student musicians from under-served communities. Recognizing how music can provide a transformational experience for any child, Eric attempts to engage and inspire students from as many different backgrounds as possible through community engagement activities such as free lectures, workshops, and concerts alongside working with student orchestras.

Eric received his Bachelors of Music in Education from Ithaca College and continued his studies both at Universite de Montreal and the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has studied with some of the foremost conducting pedagogues in the United States, including Marin Alsop, James Ross, Harold Farberman, Neil Varon, Marc Gibson, Larry Rachleff, Don Schleicher, Jean-Francois Rivest, Paolo Bellomia, and Joseph Gifford. When not on the podium, his interests extend to fitness, tennis, and spending time in nature.