Conductors

Andrew Samlal

Described as a “fine and quite serious musician, with excellent technical command”, Trinidadian conductor and pianist Andrew Samlal has appeared as associate conductor and coach with the Des Moines Metro Opera and Guest Conductor with the Canton Symphony Orchestra. Samlal was also music director of the Delaware Valley Opera Company’s Le nozze di Figaro, assistant conductor of the Prague Summer Festival’s Le nozze di Figaro and also conductor for Independent Sounds Festival’s La Traviata and Le nozze di Figaro. Praised for his “skilled technique at the keyboard but also for his acute sense of the classical and baroque period styles” Samlal was also an apprentice conductor and school pianist with the Philadelphia Ballet and served on faculty as a conductor and pianist at Temple University. 

Samlal has worked as Music Director of The University of Maryland’s University Orchestra and Assistant Conductor with the Maryland Opera Studio (MOS) where he assisted with MOS’s productions of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte and Otto Nikolai’s The Merry Wives of Windsor. Samlal has a Master's Degree in Collaborative Piano and Opera Coaching from Temple University and is currently pursuing a doctorate in orchestral studies at The University of Maryland where he is a student of David Neely. Some artists Samlal has worked with include Markand Thakar, Beatrice Affron, Lambert Orkis, Sara Davis Buechner and Joyce Lindorff. 

An accomplished and aspiring conductor, Sasha started his masters degree in orchestral conducting at the University of Maryland this season with David Neely. He studied conducting and orchestration with Jonathan Strasser at the Manhattan School of Music pre-college. This past season, he assisted Marin Alsop at the National Orchestral Institute and conducted Mahler’s Second Symphony with the festival orchestra.

As a violinist, Sasha is a winner of numerous competitions including the Cremona International Violin Competition and the New Jersey Intergenerational Orchestra Competition. He performed on stage in Cremona’s international music academy (CIM) at age 12.

As an orchestral performer, Sasha has been invited as a fellow to the Aspen Music Festival and the Music in the Mountains festival where he was concertmaster of the chamber orchestra. His role as a concertmaster also extends throughout his time at Rice University’s Symphony Orchestra, where he received his master’s in violin performance and continued his conducting studies.  

Sasha believes in the uniting power of music and strives to bind the gap between classical music and those who do not have the experience or exposure to relate to it. His time at the CIM was substantially spent with Connect Outreach Program, where he performed across all of Northeast Ohio, advocating for higher music education for children in public school systems, libraries, markets, and fundraiser events.

Conductor Emeritus: Derek Maseloff

Derek Maseloff helped the orchestra to get started in 2023, and was principal conductor until fall 2025 when he left to take an army band conducting position. 

A conductor, horn player, organist, and composer,  Derek is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Great Falls Philharmonic, the region’s newest professional orchestra. He previously served as Music Director of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Great Falls, VA, and was an active freelance horn player in the Washington D.C. area.  Derek is a founding member of Classically Dope, a Washington D.C.-based musical experiment featuring rapper Konshens theMC and a cohort of classically trained musicians. Recent collaborations include a workshop with Yo-Yo Ma and a performance alongside the National Symphony Orchestra at the Anthem. As an administrator, Derek is a passionate advocate for young artists, a believer in the transformative experience of touring. He served as Director of Artistic Planning for the National Youth Orchestra of China, presenting dozens of concerts on three continents with highlights at the Berlin Konzerthaus and Carnegie Hall and as the Festival Director of the Prague Summer Nights Young Artist Music Festival. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in China and Asian-Studies (CAPS) and a Masters in horn performance from the University of Maryland. He lives in Greenbelt.