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Stephen Mulligan

conductor

Berlin-based American conductor Stephen Mulligan recently concluded his tenure as associate conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra. He served as a Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the 2018-19 season, leading the orchestra on the Toyota Symphonies for Youth series and assisting Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, Conductor Laureate Esa-Pekka Salonen, and guest conductors Lionel Bringuier, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla, Zubin Mehta and Michael Tilson Thomas.

Mulligan’s 2022-23 includes return engagements with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Arkansas and Amarillo, and debut projects with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

An advocate for the music of today, Mulligan debuted on the New York Philharmonic’s sound ON series in the 2021-22 season. Additional debuts that season included performances with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon, Portugal), Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra; he also made returns to the Rochester Philharmonic, Sarasota Orchestra and Winston-Salem Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his work on the music staff of Cincinnati Opera’s 2022 season, Mulligan led a Washington Park concert with Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra musicians. Recent hihglights include leading the National Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, Virginia Symphony Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Portland Symphony Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Reading Symphony Orchestra, London Symphonia and Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra.

During the 2017-18 season, his first with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mulligan stepped in on short notice for three classical subscription programs over the course of six weeks, working with mezzo Jennifer Johnson Cano and pianists Jorge Federico Osorio and Behzod Abduraimov to critical acclaim. Mulligan is a two-time recipient of the prestigious Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award.

From 2014-16, Stephen Mulligan served as assistant conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony and music director of the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Program. In the summer of 2015, after winning the Aspen Conducting Prize, he served as the assistant conductor of the Aspen Music Festival.

​​A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Stephen Mulligan began his music studies with his father Gregory, former concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony and current violinist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He studied conducting at Yale University with Toshiyuki Shimada, at the Peabody Institute with Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar, and Marin Alsop; and at the Aspen Music Festival and School with Robert Spano.