09/03/2026
Welcome to Thurnauer MAX VINETZ! Max is an award-winning composer and will be our new department chair of Musicianship and Composition.
Originally from San Diego, California, composer and educator Max Vinetz has taught composition, music theory, music production, and musicianship to students of all ages, from middle and high school students to university undergraduates and graduate composers. He holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.M. from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and an M.F.A. and Ph.D. in Music Composition from Princeton University. His principal teachers and mentors include Steve Mackey, Donnacha Dennehy, Christopher Theofanidis, Dan Trueman, Tyondai Braxton, Juri Seo, Kathryn Alexander, Kurt Stallmann, and Karim Al-Zand. Max’s music has been described as “accomplished and appealing” (San Diego Story) and “shimmering…euphoric” (Chicago Classical Review), and has been performed by ensembles including JACK Quartet, Alarm Will Sound, Sō Percussion, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. His honors include commissions from the Fromm Foundation and Koussevitzky Music Foundation, the Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Jacob Druckman Prize from the Aspen Music Festival, the ASCAP Leo Kaplan Award, three ASCAP Morton Gould Composer Awards, and the ASCAP Leonard Bernstein Award. As a teacher, Max emphasizes curiosity, experimentation, and collaboration, encouraging students to develop a distinctive musical voice while building the technical and analytical tools necessary to realize their ideas. He believes that composition study should connect listening, creativity, and practical musicianship, and strives to meet each student at their individual level and interests. Max resides in Brooklyn, New York.
