Conductor Stephen Mulligan has been the Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra since August 2017. Mulligan has also frequently worked at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, recently assisting John Adams on a production of his opera "Nixon in China" at Walt Disney Concert Hall and Gustavo Dudamel in a production of Bernstein's "West Side Story" at the Hollywood Bowl. From 2014-16, Mulligan served as Assistant Conductor of the Winston-Salem Symphony and the Music Director of the Winston-Salem Symphony Youth Orchestras Program. Other recent highlights include appearances with the St. Louis Symphony, Florida Orchestra, Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony Orchestra, and Reading Symphony Orchestra.

Mulligan was awarded the Aspen Conducting Prize after studying with Robert Spano as a fellow in the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen from 2013-2014. He then served as the festival's Assistant Conductor in 2015 and as a guest conductor in 2016. Before attending Aspen, Mulligan studied with Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar, and Marin Alsop at the Peabody Institute, and received his Master’s Degree there in 2013. While studying at Peabody, Mulligan co-founded and directed the Occasional Symphony, an ensemble devoted to performing in alternative venues, and traveled to Venezuela with the Baltimore Symphony's OrchKids staff to participate in an exchange with the El Sistema program.

In 2011, Mulligan graduated cum laude from Yale University, where he served as the Yale Symphony's assistant conductor, traveled to Helsinki to study Sibelius' late manuscripts with a grant from the Mellon Foundation, and was awarded the Wrexham Prize for excellence in performance for violin and conducting.

Mulligan grew up in Baltimore, MD, studying violin with his father Gregory, former concertmaster of the San Antonio Symphony and current violinist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.