Starting in June 2026, Max Tan will serve as concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand.
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). Max Tan is especially committed to teaching and fostering a new generation of musical advocates, curators, and leaders.
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.
Beginning in June 2026, Max Tan becomes interim concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia in New Zealand.
Praised as “eloquent” (New York Times) and “warmly rhapsodic” (Boston Globe) for “rhetorical playing that transcends the barlines” (Wieniawski Gazette), American violinist Max Tan has performed on stages in North America, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared with orchestras including the Chamber Orchestra of Wallonia, the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra of Polish Radio, and the Juilliard Orchestra. Recipient of the Arthur Foote Prize from the Harvard Musical Association and the 2023 Gershen Cohen Violin Award, Dr Tan made his Carnegie Hall recital debut with pianist Marisa Gupta in April 2024. Notable festival appearances include La Jolla SummerFest, Ravinia, Music@Menlo, YellowBarn, Pacific Music Festival, Chelsea Music Festival, and Prussia Cove. His performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York), WFMT (Chicago), WSMR (Sarasota), Musiq3 (Belgium), Polish Radio, and Radio Poznań.
Maintaining a multifaceted career as performer, educator, and curator, Dr Tan is a dedicated advocate for music of our time, with a focus on arts diplomacy and the cultivation of artist-advocates and curators. He has given the North American premieres of works by composers such as Jean-Frédéric Neuberger, Sang Tong, Misato Mochizuki, and Marc Migó Cortes. In collaboration with the Institute of North American Studies in Barcelona last year, he curated and performed a program highlighting American composers across generations and backgrounds, including Matt Aucoin, Michelle Barzel Ross, Albert Markov, and Sarah Gibson. As Founder and Artistic Director of Soundbox Ventures, he leads the Soundbox Fellowship Program, an international residency and festival that brings composers and performers together to workshop new music and actively shape the evolving canon of the 21st century. In 2026, the program expands internationally with a new residency in Shanghai.
Driven by a deep interest in the stories music can tell, Dr Tan’s research explores the relationship between historical documents and modern performance practice. His writings have appeared in The Juilliard Journal, L’éducation musicale, and the Journal of the Belgian Musicological Society. Dr Tan’s debut album, Ysaÿe: Transformations (Centaur Records, 2024), featuring unpublished arrangements by Ysaÿe for violin, piano, and organ, is the subject of his essay in Juilliard School Library Music Manuscripts: By and For Performers (Scala).
Dr Tan is Concertmaster of Opera Philadelphia and briefly served as Associate Concertmaster of the Auckland Philharmonia in 2025. He guest lectures at Tianjin Juilliard on historical recordings, score interpretation, and performance practice. In addition to maintaining a private studio, he previously served on the chamber music faculty of the Perlman Music Program and was assistant faculty to Catherine Cho at Juilliard. His principal teachers and mentors include Catherine Cho, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, Lynn Chang, and Albert Markov. Dr Tan earned his bachelors at Harvard College concentrating in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a secondary in Music, and completed his Masters, Artist Diploma, and Doctorate of Musical Arts from Juilliard.
