Mahlon started piano and flute at age 7, became a student of Oxana Yablonskaya, Juilliard piano faculty and recitalist, at age 14. Also began composition studies with Eleanor Cory at Mannes. He has been improvising since he began piano. His grandfather and his two great uncles played French horn with Arturo Toscanini in the NBC Symphony, his mother has two degrees in violin performance from Juilliard, and his father, a physician, played horn in the New Haven Symphony during college. Mahlon has a great interest in history, literature, cinema, and political satire.