Max Tan

“Taiwanese-American violinist Max Tan has been praised as “eloquent” (New York Times) and “warmly rhapsodic” (Boston Globe) for “rhetorical playing that transcends the barlines” (Wieniawski Gazette). Forging a varied career as performer and educator, he has performed internationally on some of the world’s most venerable stages, soloing with the Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, Hudson Valley Philharmonic, The Juilliard Orchestra, amongst others. He has competed at the Queen Elisabeth, Wieniawski, Qingdao, Hudson Valley, and Leopold Mozart competitions, and his performances have been broadcasted on WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), WSMR (Sarasota), Musiq3 (Belgium), Polish Radio and Radio Poznan (Poland). Upcoming projects include a collaboration with the Institute of North American Studies in Barcelona, presenting a concert featuring works by American composers of various backgrounds: opera conductor and pianist Matt Aucoin, the Iranian-Jewish violinist Michelle Barzel Ross, the Ukrainian-born violinist Albert Markov, and the late pianist Sarah Gibson.

Recipient of the 2023 Gershen Cohen Violin Award, Dr. Tan made his Carnegie Hall recital debut with pianist Marisa Gupta on April 3, 2024. Notable festival appearances include La Jolla Summerfest, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, YellowBarn, Chelsea Music Festival, and Prussia Cove. He has given the premieres of works by important living composers in North America and Asia, including Sur la corde raide by French composer Jean-Frederic Neuberger, Phylogenie by Japanese composer Misato Mochizuki, Night Scenery by Chinese composer Sang Tong, and chamber works by Catalan composer Marc Migó. An ardent advocate for music of our time, Dr. Tan is committed to arts diplomacy, community engagement, and education, currently teaching a course for the Tianjin Juilliard School. His writings about music have appeared in The Juilliard Journal in New York and L’education musicale in France. Dr. Tan’s dissertation research centers on the provenance of unpublished arrangements of Chausson’s Poème and other notable works for violin, piano, and organ by Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe, the first recordings of which were released by Centaur Records in September 2024. His performances of these newly uncovered works have taken place in New York and Sarasota, Florida. He gave a lecture-performance on Ysaÿe's arrangement of Chausson's Poème at the Tianjin Juilliard School’s library opening, and also taught seminars on performance practice to students at Tianjin Juilliard and the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. Dr. Tan has also published an essay on his manuscript research in Juilliard School Library Music Manuscripts: By and For Performers, a new book celebrating Juilliard’s archival treasures published by Scala.

An alumnus of Harvard and Juilliard, Dr. Tan is founder and artistic director of Soundbox Ventures, which launched the Suncoast Composer Fellowship Program as well as the Listen Hear Salon Concerts series in Sarasota, FL. Currently assistant faculty of violin at Juilliard’s Pre-College, Dr. Tan also maintains a private studio and is dedicated to fostering the next generation of artist teachers, curators, and advocates. His mentors at Juilliard include Catherine Cho, Donald Weilerstein, and Itzhak Perlman. Dr. Tan is concertmaster of Opera Philadelphia and is looking forward to serving as guest associate concertmaster with the Auckland Philharmonia from June through August 2025.”