Max Holman

Music Director Finalist and Guest Conductor

Max Holman is a Boston-based musician recognized for his “clear and expressive” conducting, “sensitive” collaborative instincts, and “clever” improvisations, arrangements, and continuo playing. Equally comfortable in front of professional, community, and youth ensembles, his expertise as a vocal coach and choral clinician has transformed seasoned, aging, and changing voices alike. A passionate educator, Max infuses practical musicianship skills, musical literacy, and healthy technique into fun and engaging rehearsals through relevant and diverse programming. He is currently Executive & Artistic Director of the Boston Saengerfest Men’s Chorus, Middle & Upper School Choral Music and Spanish Teacher at Brimmer and May School, Director of the Five Cities Baroque Festival Youth Academy, and a Collaborative Pianist for Boston Children’s Chorus. 

International engagements have taken him to the Sultanate of Oman, performing Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohéme at the Royal Opera House Muscat under Lorin Maazel, for whom he prepared L.v. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 chorus at the Castleton Festival; Rome, Bologna, Milan, and Venice with the Yale Schola Cantorum; Madrid with Salix Cantor and Coro Talía, for whom he also served as Assistant Conductor; Paris with el Coro de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; and Montréal and Barcelona with the Yale Glee Club. Stateside, he has performed Baroque works at the harpsichord such as J.S. Bach’s Concertos for Three and Four Harpsichords with the Norfolk Chamber Consort, Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos and Cantata 80, a set of Antonio Vivaldi’s sinfonias and concerti featuring several improvisations, and five concert series of G.F. Handel’s Messiah with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. He enjoys featuring the harpsichord outside of the baroque, such as performing Germaine Tailleferre’s Ouverture with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra under JoAnn Falletta. An accomplished ballet accompanist, Max has played hundreds of American Repertory Ballet and New Haven Ballet classes, the latter of which commissioned him to compose and record The Children’s Ballet. 

Max is in demand locally as a freelance conductor, collaborative pianist, harpsichordist, organist, and singer, recently specializing in filling in with less than 24-hours notice to conduct the Choir of St. Paul’s Church Harvard Square, perform as a soloist and chorister with Cambridge-based Musica Sacra, and accompany the choirs of Boston Latin School in concert. Max received his Bachelor of Music in Music Education: Voice from Rutgers University and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, where he was awarded the Hugh Giles Prize and the Hugh Porter Scholarship. When he’s not making music, Max enjoys cooking, cycling, immersing himself in new cultures, forever improving his Spanish, attempting to learn how to dance, making people laugh, and playing fetch with his cat, Estrella.

Visit Max’s website www.maxholman.net.

Max will prepare and conduct The Spectrum Singers’ May 17, 2025 concert, See, Hear, Speak [No Evil].