Praised as “eloquent” by the New York Times and “warmly rhapsodic” by the Boston Globe, Taiwanese American violinist Max Tan has been featured on WNYC/WQXR and Belgian radio Musiq3 and Canvas as a semifinalist in the 2019 Queen Elisabeth International Violin Competition. Appearing as soloist with the Juilliard Orchestra, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra amongst others, he has also performed solo recitals and chamber music throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. He has appeared at numerous festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, Music@Menlo, Yellow Barn, Four Seasons, Pacific Music Festival, and others. With diverse interests in arts advocacy and global citizenship, Mr. Tan is on the roster of the Si-Yo Music Foundation and a co-founder of the Versoi Ensemble. During the pandemic, Mr. Tan worked to support organizations connecting musicians with isolated audiences and recovering COVID-19 patients in isolation, such as DOROT, Project Music Heals Us, and Virtual Bedside Concerts. He also curates his own livestream program on Groupmuse.

Mr. Tan is a recipient of the Arthur Foote Prize from the Harvard Association and an alumnus of the Sylff Fellows Program and the Kovner Fellowship. An educator with a private studio class, he is fascinated with the intersectionality of academia, philosophy, and performance. Working closely with composition and performing artist faculty at Sunset Chamberfest (Los Angeles), he mentors young composers in writing and public speaking. His writings have been published by The Juilliard Journal in New York and L’éducation musicale in France. In November 2020, Mr. Tan gave the opening lecture of Juilliard’s Doctoral Forum, presenting research on unpublished manuscripts of Eugene Ysaÿe. He was awarded the Robert F. French Fund to produce the first recordings of these works. 

A Harvard graduate with a major in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology and a minor in Music, Mr. Tan is currently a Celia Ascher Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School where he received both his Master of Music and Artist Diploma degrees. He is faculty assistant to Catherine Cho and teaching fellow to Dr. Elizabeth Weinfield. Mr. Tan works with pre-college, college, and graduate degree students.