Following studies in his hometown of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada [Dániel Péter Biró, David Clenman, Eugene Dowling, Gary Karr, Colin Tilney, Louis Ranger, Gordon Mumma], Max Murray completed parallel graduate degrees in performance and composition at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik ‘Hanns Eisler’ [Thomas Keller, William Forman], and the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater ‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ where he was awarded a Hanns Eisler Prize for the Interpretation of Contemporary Music and the Leipziger Kompositionspreis respectively. He was a visiting fellow in the Music Department of Harvard University where he completed a PhD in music composition [Chaya Czernowin, Hans Tutschku] with a secondary field in Critical Media Practice [Alfred Guzzetti], receiving Harvard Music Department’s Adelbert W. Sprague Prize for Orchestral Composition. As a tubist he has worked across classical and contemporary repertoire [guest of the Staatskapelle Berlin, SWR Experimental Studio, guest of the Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic, Lucerne Festival Academy], appearing as a soloist in festivals such as Borealis [Bergen], and Musica Nova [Helsinki], and receiving invitations for residencies in the composition departments of Stanford and Huddersfield Universities. He has participated in conducting masterclasses with Jorma Panula.
Photo: Philipp Jester
