Max McBride

He was Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Double Bass and Conducting at the Canberra School of Music from 1992 – 2008.

Max embarked on his conducting career immediately upon his return to Australia in 1979. He was engaged as a conductor by the ABC, and has since worked with the ABC orchestras in Sydney, Hobart, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. He was also a regular conductor with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, and has conducted opera at Victoria State Opera and Australian Opera as well as large scale choral works with Sydney Philarmonia and Canberra Choral Society.

Max has always loved working with young musicians. Recently, he has been at the centre of re-developing orchestral music at the ANU School of Music, conducting the Side-by-Side Orchestra in a collaboration with the Canberra Symphony Orchestra. In October 2020 he conducted the highly successful premiere of the ANU Orchestra to a capacity audience at Llewellyn Hall and critical acclaim. The program featured Shostakovich’s 2nd Piano Concerto and Dvorak’s 8th Symphony.

From 2009 – 2014 Max was Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Youth Orchestra. Highlights included performances of Saint-Saëns’s Organ Symphony, Mahler’s 3rd and 6th Symphony, as well as working with soloists Teddy Tahu-Rhodes, Satu Vänskä and David Pereira. Under Max’s direction the SYO has premièred works of such Australian composers as George Palmer, Gerard Brophy, Graeme Koehne, Elena Kats-Chernin and Daniel Rojas.

From 1992 – 2010 Max was Chief Conductor of the Canberra Youth Orchestra highlights included touring Europe and performing Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony in Canberra and at Sydney Opera House.