Maxwell Brown Bio – Maxwell Brown and River Brown

Maxwell Brown is a virtuosic 14-year-old violinist whose solo performances have been described as brilliant, thrilling, and breathtaking.

Max is a student at Juilliard’s Pre-College where he studies with Catherine Cho. Through the Perlman Music Program, he additionally studies with Itzhak Perlman. His other primary teachers and mentors include Brian Lewis, Timothy Schwarz, and Shelley Beard Santore. Max has been honored to perform as a soloist- with orchestras including the Ambler Symphony, Carolina Philharmonic, Chicago Arts, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Youth Symphony, Juilliard Pre-College String Orchestra, Midwest Young Artists Conservatory, Old York Road Symphony, Perlman Music Program, Rowan Strings Ensemble, Temple Youth Chamber Orchestra, and Warminster Symphony; as part of the Delaware County Symphony Chamber Series; at Carnegie Hall, Juilliard’s Paul Hall, Royal Albert Hall, and the Kimmel Center, and at institutes including Heifetz, the Calidore String Quartet Seminar, Ithaca College’s Preludio Program, Northwestern University’s Bienen Institute, and the Perlman Summer Music School.

Max has been the Overall Winner of the Walgreens National Concerto Competition Junior Open Division, second place winner of MTNA Nationals Junior Strings, second place winner of the International Lowell Chamber Orchestra Concerto Competition, and a two-time semifinalist for the International Young Artists Concerto Competition. He has won the Ambler Symphony Menges Award, the Old York Road Young Artists Competition, the Warminster Concerto Competition Children’s Division, and the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra Concerto Competition. For his age group, he has won the Delaware Youth Concerto Competition, as well as the Camerata, Irvine Conservatory, and Long Island Conservatory of Music competitions, among many others. He has been honored to twice receive the top Coastal Concerts scholarship and the Frankel and Glotzer awards, and to be the student performer for the 2023 ASTA Board Meeting. He was thrilled to be selected as one of 12 student artists for Juilliard’s 2023 and 2025 Starling-DeLay Symposia.

Max has received masterclass instruction from renowned artist-teachers including Robert Chen, Emily Connolly, Patrick Connolly, Winifred Crock, Francesca dePasquale, Teri Einfeldt, Hal Grossman, Bela Horvath, Sirena Huang, Juliette Kang, Paul Kantor, Benny Kim, Soovin Kim, Katie Lansdale, Corin Lee, I-Hao Lee, Ryan Meehan, Violaine Melançon, Blair Milton, Dara Morales, Jeff Myers, Kurt Nikkanen, Hirono Oka, Gerardo Ribeiro, Mark Rovetti, Tal Schifter, Stephen Sims, Janet Sung, and Almita Vamos. He is grateful to Jun Cho, Giancarlo Llerena, Lotus Cheng, Akiko Turley, Jennifer Nicole Campbell, and Angela Draghicescu for their piano collaborations. Through Coastal Concerts, Max was honored to perform in advance of Amy Yang, and to share the stage with Elena Urioste. Through the Flow Music Leadership Academy, Max was honored to collaborate with David Michael Wolff. Recently, through NPR’s From the Top, Max was excited to collaborate with Peter Dugan for the Silver Jubilee Show 456.

An avid fiddler, Max has won numerous youth and adult contests, and is a two-time youth champion of the world’s oldest and largest fiddlers convention at Galax, VA, where also he has placed 2^nd in the adult contest. His fiddle teachers have included Andrew Vogts and Bruce Molsky, and he has received masterclass instruction from Darol Anger. Max also has studied guitar with Christopher Braddock and Mark Unruh and was named the 2021 Maryland State Flatpicking Guitar Champion. Max has been a featured performer on the main stage of festivals such as Waterford and Delaware Valley Bluegrass and has shared the stage with renowned artists including Del McCoury and David Grisman, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, Mark Schatz and Bryan McDowell, The New Ballard’s Branch Bogtrotters, Trout Fishing in America, the Steep Canyon Rangers, and The Beach Boys.

Max is passionate about supporting other young musicians including by volunteering with the MELODY program and coaching his little sister, River. When he’s not making music, Max can be found reading, drawing cartoons, horseback riding, playing soccer, and spending time with his family and friends.

For more about Max, visit swellstrings.com and youtube.com/@Swellstrings

Listen to Max’s music on YouTube @swellstrings

and at From the Top