Projects

Max Murray is active as a composer, conductor, and tubist.

As a composer he has collaborated closely with musicians and ensembles including Christopher Otto [New York], Noa Frenkel [Den Haag], Saviet/Houston Duo+Peyee Chen [Berlin], RAGE THORMBONES [New York/L.A.], Léa Trommenschlager [Paris], ELISION Ensemble [Melbourne], Kevin McFarland [Colorado], Annie Gårlid+Mathilde Conley+Nathan Plante [Berlin], and Madison Greenstone [New York], among others, with works appearing in contexts such as the Gare du Nord «Dialog» [Basel], the Philharmonie Luxembourg’s rainy days festival [Luxembourg], and Klangwerkstatt [Berlin]. In 2022 his evening-length, staged multimedia piece, Georgic, for performers Samuel Stoll [Berlin], Noëlle-Anne Darbellay [Bern], and Richard Craig [Edinburgh], developed with the support of Mellon Fellowship from Harvard University, was premiered as part of a 2022 residency at the Harvard ArtLab, and the 21/22 NO HAY BANDA season in Montreal, Canada. In September 2023 he conducted the premiere of his work Schaufeln | Brayen — Rain by for soprano, nine brass instruments, harp and percussion in collaboration with Apparat, Ensemble Adapter, and Olivia Stahn.

As a conductor he has worked with leading groups for contemporary music including Ensemble Contrechamps [Neu Records — forthcoming release], and EnsembleKollektiv Berlin [Ultraschall — Deutschlandradio], among others. From 2016 to 2020 he was the conductor of Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences' Symphony Orchestra, alongside directing a Bach cantata series in collaboration with the Harvard Art Museums.

He is a founding member of Apparat, a Berlin-based brass ensemble dedicated to contemporary music. Having premiered several of his own works, the ensemble has presented programs in venues such as the Philharmonie Luxembourg and Berlin’s Akademie der Künste, as-well as, in the framework of EnsembleKollektiv Berlin, in Berlin’s major contemporary music festivals including Musikfest, MärzMusik etc. A founding member of EnsembleKollektiv Berlin, he is the ensemble’s current Artistic Director.

Together with Liam Hockley, he co-directs Arbour Concerts based in Victoria and Vancouver, British Columbia Canada.