
Described as “warmly rhapsodic” by the Boston Globe, “grand, exemplary, and immersed” by the Boston Music Intelligencer, and “eloquent” by the New York Times, violinist Max Tan’s vast interpretive prowess is celebrated for “rhetorical playing that transcends the barlines” (Wieniawski Gazette).
Ysaÿe: Transformations
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Max Tan’s debut album presents the first recordings of Ysaÿe’s arrangements of famous violin works for violin, piano, and organ. These arrangements are heard together the first time in 100 years.
This recording project, led by violinist Max Tan, also features pianist Marisa Gupta and organist Chris Yuejian Chen.
These recordings were made in the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in upstate New York and was funded by a combination of private donations and a grant from the Richard French Fund awarded via The Juilliard School.
Released on Centaur Records, the recordings were produced and mastered by Marlan Barry with digital editing by Ian Streidter.
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A performer, educator, curator, and writer, violinist Max Tan is founder and artistic director of Soundbox Ventures. He is also concertmaster of Opera Philadelphia. From June-August 2025, he serves as guest associate concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia.
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). Serving as concertmaster of Opera Philadelphia, Dr. Tan will appear as guest associate concertmaster with the Auckland Philharmonia from June through August 2025. Recently, in collaboration with the Institute of North American Studies in Barcelona, Dr. Tan presented a concert featuring works by American composers of various backgrounds: opera conductor and pianist Matt Aucoin, Mizrahi-American violinist and composer 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 developing 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. He is assistant faculty of violin at Juilliard’s Pre-College, in addition to maintaining his private studio. Dr. Tan 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.