Biography
As a recorder player, harpsichordist and increasingly as an ensemble leader, Max Volbers is one of the most versatile young musicians in the field of early music. In the spirit of the sound worlds of the 17th and 18th centuries, in which musicians mastered several instruments without question, he illuminates the repertoire of early music from very different perspectives as a multi-instrumentalist. He also devotes himself time and again to new music and regularly works with composers on commissioned compositions. He studied at the Mozarteum University Salzburg with Dorothee Oberlinger, Walter van Hauwe, Reinhard Goebel and Florian Birsak.
As a prizewinner of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, among others, he is a welcome guest at the Verbier Festival, the Heidelberger Frühling, the Musikfestspiele Sanssouci, the Menuhin Festival Gstaad, the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele or the Innsbrucker Festwochen der Alten Musik. Deeply convinced that early music should not be the exclusive privilege of the early music movement, he plays with ensembles such as Concerto Köln, La Cetra or the Capricornus Consort as well as with "modern" orchestras such as the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, the NDR Radiophilharmonie or the Musikkollegium Winterthur. He has been a guest in major halls such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Berlin Konzerthaus, the Elbphilharmonie, the KKL Lucerne, the Casa da Musica Porto, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Konserthuset Stockholm, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Philharmonie de Paris or the MÜPA Budapest.
As a conductor, he has worked with orchestras such as the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and soloists such as Olivia Vermeulen. In addition to his concert activities, Max teaches at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and at various master classes.
Große Unterstützung erhielt er von der Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben, der Ernsting Stiftung sowie der GWK Münster (Förderpreis Musik 2013 und GWK-Cordes-Stipendium). Nach zahlreichen Rundfunkproduktionen erschien im Oktober 2022 seine Debut-CD „Whispers of Tradition“ bei GENUIN, die von der Fachpresse begeistert aufgenommen wurde. Für diese CD erhält er den OPUS KLASSIK 2023 in der Kategorie Nachwuchskünstler des Jahres.