A 2020 recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award, Maurice Cohn is Music Director of the New Horizons Orchestra and Assistant Conductor of the Eastman Philharmonia. Recent engagements include returning to conduct Oberlin Conservatory’s Contemporary Music Ensemble and serving as cover conductor for the Atlanta Symphony, assisting Music Director Robert Spano. Maurice also regularly conducts the Chicago-based contemporary ensemble Zafa Collective. He served as Assistant Conductor of the National Music Festival for two seasons and was the co-Artistic Director of the Arts@Ascension Music Festival. A 2019 conducting fellow at the Aspen Music Festival and School, Maurice was awarded the Robert J. Harth Conductor Prize and an invitation to return as a 2021 fellow. He was also a semi-finalist in the 2020 Guido Cantelli Conducting Competition. Born and raised in Galesburg, IL, Maurice recently completed an M.M. in conducting at the Eastman School of Music, where he is now a teaching assistant and doctoral candidate. He works frequently with the Eastman orchestras and OSSIA New Music ensemble, and performs as a cellist in the chamber music program. He holds a B.M. in cello performance from Oberlin Conservatory and a B.A. from Oberlin College, where he studied history and mathematics. His thesis on Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Rosenzweig, and twentieth-century critical theory received highest honors, and his work with the Oberlin Community Music School earned a Bonner Center Award for Education Outreach.