Max Hammond
piano (icarus Quartet)
A pianist who plays with the “ the finesse, the grace, and the ebullience of a Mozart” (Harry Rolnick, The Classical Music Network), Max Hammond’s passion lies in putting canonical works in conversation with new voices. An avid performer of contemporary music, Max has had the honor to premiere works by composers including Joan Tower, Carlos Simon, and Harold Meltzer. He has also performed around the globe as a chamber musician, with appearances across North America, Scotland, and France, alongside groups Mirror Visions Ensemble, eighth blackbird, and the Akropolis Reed Quintet. As the winner of Juilliard’s Concerto Competition, Max made his Lincoln Center debut in Alice Tully Hall performing Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto, Op. 42 with the Juilliard Orchestra under David Robertson. As a concerto soloist, Max has performed a diverse range of works across the country, from Prokofiev’s Third Concerto to Bernstein’s Age of Anxiety with the Yale Symphony Orchestra, the Bellflower Symphony, and Pasadena Community Orchestra. As a passionate interpreter of the work of Schoenberg, Max also had the privilege of performing Pierrot Lunaire at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna in honor of the composer's 150th birthday. This season, he will make his Carnegie Hall debut in a concert exploring the work of Meredith Monk. Max graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna cum Laude from Yale College with a BA in mathematics, where he studied at the Yale School of Music with Wei-Yi Yang, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree at the Juilliard School under Julian Martin and Soyeon Kate Lee.
