About Eric
Eric Oberstein is a 2x GRAMMY and 2x Latin GRAMMY-winning producer, curator, artist manager, arts administrator, and educator. A respected and trusted arts leader, he is founder of Eric Oberstein Productions, an NYC-based artist management and producing company, serving as a collaborator and guide to adventurous, culture-changing artists, as well as an arts management consultancy, curating transformative programming and advising cultural organizations on strategy. With a long track record of working with prominent artists and arts organizations, Oberstein has developed a career building environments that help artists and organizations achieve their goals.
A New York-born and raised saxophonist and drummer of Cuban American heritage, Oberstein is an accomplished music producer with an appetite and ear for music across genres and styles. He has collaborated since 2016 with Cuban-born, GRAMMY-winning bandleader, drummer, composer, educator, and MacArthur Fellow Dafnis Prieto. Prior to that, Oberstein collaborated for eight years with GRAMMY-winning bandleader, pianist, composer, and educator Arturo O'Farrill.
Oberstein produced landmark tours to Cuba with both O’Farrill and Prieto. In 2010 he produced the Chico O’Farrill Afro Cuban Jazz Orchestra’s tour to the island, returning the musicians of O’Farrill’s father — the legendary Cuban composer and arranger Chico O’Farrill — to his homeland for headlining performances at the 26th edition of the Havana International Jazz Plaza Festival. In 2019 Oberstein produced Prieto’s tour to his native country, to perform his music on the island for the first time in 20 years, documented in the short film, Regresar: Back in Cuba.
Oberstein has won two GRAMMY Awards and two Latin GRAMMY Awards, and his productions have earned 11 nominations and six wins. His albums have been named to “Best of” lists by NPR Music, iTunes, DownBeat, JazzTimes, and The Village Voice, among others. Longtime New York Times jazz critic Nate Chinen named both Dafnis Prieto Big Band’s Back to the Sunset, and Arturo O’Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra’s 40 Acres and a Burro, both produced by Oberstein, as two of “The 129 Essential Albums of the Twenty-First Century (So Far)” in his 2018 book, Playing Changes: Jazz for the New Century. Oberstein has also collaborated on recording projects with Luciana Souza, Larry Klein, Rafiq Bhatia, Chris Pattishall, Vuyo Sotashe, Bombadil, and others.
In addition, Oberstein is a veteran arts and cultural executive with 15 years experience managing arts organizations and curating multidisciplinary programs in the non-profit and higher education spheres, serving as Managing Director of Harlem Stage, Interim Director (and Associate Director prior) of Duke Performances (now Duke Arts Presents) at Duke University, and Executive Director of the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance (now Belongó). At each of these organizations Oberstein oversaw active commissioning, presenting, and education programs, in addition to guiding strategy, fundraising, and operations.
Oberstein is proud to have served as a curator of world-class performing arts programming that brings communities and cultures together, presenting visionary artists such as Eddie Palmieri, Mavis Staples, Henry Threadgill, Branford Marsalis, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, nora chipaumire, Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, Urban Bush Women, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Stew, Jason Moran, Vijay Iyer, Ambrose Akinmusire, yMusic, Flor de Toloache, and many others.
He is also a creative producer with deep experience developing new commissions and performing arts projects with forward-thinking artists including Bijayini Satpathy, Craig Harris, Gerald Clayton, Jenny Scheinman, Hiss Golden Messenger, Leyla McCalla, Jason ‘Timbuktu’ Diakité, Tamar-kali, Simone Dinnerstein + Pam Tanowitz Dance, Eighth Blackbird + David Lang + Anne Bogart, Imani Winds, American Ballet Theatre + Stefanie Batten Bland, Malpaso Dance Company, and more.
Oberstein is an educator invested in mentoring arts administrators, helping young people imagine and pursue meaningful professional lives in the arts. He previously taught Arts Management & Entrepreneurship at Duke University — his teaching and course were cited as among the top 5% of all undergraduate Humanities instructors and courses in Duke’s Trinity College. In the 2025/2026 academic year, Oberstein will teach courses in Creative Producing at Teachers College, Columbia University, and in Performing Arts Management at George Mason University.
Oberstein has conducted research and written on the Creative Campus movement and the role of the arts in higher education, authoring a chapter which appears in the critically acclaimed anthology, 20UNDER40: Re-inventing the Arts and Arts Education for the 21st Century, a collection of twenty essays about the future of the arts and arts education.
He has previously worked at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Office for the Arts at Harvard, and the Research Center for Arts and Culture.
Oberstein is a frequent speaker on the arts at colleges and universities, speaking at institutions including Duke, Columbia, Harvard, Pratt Institute, Stony Brook University, LIU Post, and UNC Pembroke. He has also served on numerous arts grant panels throughout his career. Oberstein is a proud member of the Creative & Independent Producer Alliance (CIPA).
Oberstein holds Master’s degrees in Arts Administration and Arts in Education from Columbia University and Harvard University, respectively. He earned his undergraduate degree with distinction from Duke University.
Photos (from top to bottom) by
Aleksandr Karjaka & Marc Millman.