Robert Max
Robert Max enjoys a colourful career as conductor, cellist and chamber musician and has recently begun his third three-year term as Musical Director of the Oxford Symphony Orchestra. During the past six seasons they have worked together on nineteen programmes which have included music by a wide selection of composers including Respighi, Berlioz, Berg, Balakirev, Glazunov, Bliss, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev, Bruckner and Britten alongside such cornerstones of the Symphonic repertoire as Mahler's 2nd and 7th Symphonies, Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra and Alpine Symphony and Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. Since 2001 Robert has also conducted the Royal Holloway University of London Symphony Orchestra including annual concerts at St. Johns Smith Square and on tour in Holland and Germany.
Robert regularly conducts the Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra at the St. Jude's Proms and in the Rye Festival. In April 2008 he was delighted to perform as soloist with the CGCO in cello concertos by Dvorak and Milhaud conducted by Peter Stark. He makes annual visits to Romania where he conducts the Arad and Oradea Philharmonic Orchestras and as well as performances with the London Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Oxford Sinfonia, Robert has conducted the Kazakh State Symphony Orchestra in Almaty. In 2001 he made the first of three annual visits to Tambov in Russia to conduct, give recitals, direct week-long chamber-music academies. As a mark of gratitude the Rachmaninov Institute awarded him the title of Honorary Professor.
In May 2010 Robert was selected to participate in the London Symphony Orchestra's annual conducting masterclass where he conducted the orchestra in music by Tchaikovsky and Debussy under the guidance of Valery Gergiev. Robert was Musical Director of the Zemel Choir from 1994-8 with whom he recorded two CDs for Olympia and toured Israel in 1996. As cellist of the Barbican Piano Trio for nearly a quarter of a century, Robert has performed on four continents and recorded for ASV, Black Box, Dutton and Guildmusic. Robert was Musical Director of Pro Corda, the National School for Young Chamber Music Players from 1998 to 2000 and now coaches chamber-music at MusicWorks. He is Principal cellist of the London Chamber Orchestra.
Photo: Kevin Leighton: London Symphony Orchestra Discovery Conducting Masterclass - supported by the Murray-Smith Laird Charitable Trust