Max Rubenstein-Miller is a Composer, Pianist, Vocalist, and Educator from Ithaca, NY, currently residing in the DFW area. Max is working towards a B.M. in Composition with a concentration in Voice at the University of North Texas College of Music.
Starting with Suzuki piano lessons at age 5, Max has formally studied piano, voice, and trumpet. He has experience participating in almost any type of musical ensemble, be it symphony orchestra, brass quintet, choir, wind ensemble, big band, jazz combo, vocal jazz and musical theater. He has devoted himself to studying, performing, teaching, and writing in a wide range of genres, such as Classical, Pop, Rock, Jazz, and Funk.
Max has had the privilege to study Composition with Gregory B. Rudgers, Garrison Gerard, J. Andrew Smith, and Federico Llach. He has studied both Jazz and Classical piano with a variety of teachers, including Nancy Barrett, Alejandro Bernard-Pappacryssanthou, June Lee, Yeeun Kim, Brian Lawrence, and Teng Cao. He studied Voice with David Parks, Marc Webster and Tamara Acosta in high school, and has studied under Dr. Jeffrey Snider at UNT for three years. He also studied Trumpet with Jane Dunnick for seven years.
An avid performer, Max was accepted into the NYSSMA All-State Mixed Choir and Symphonic Band in both 2019 and 2020 (performing in choir in 2019, band in 2020), as well as participating in numerous regional honor ensembles across the Northeast. Among these are the 2020 ACDA All Eastern Honor Choir and the 2019 NYSSMA Area All-State Symphony Orchestra. At the UNT College of Music, Max has participated in some of UNT’s most prestigious ensembles, such as A Capella Choir, University Singers, UNT Jazz String Lab, UNT Commercial Music Lab, 6 o’Clock Lab Band, Avenue C Vocal Jazz Ensemble, and many more.
In 2023, Max won a Downbeat award for best pop/blues performance as a member of the UNT Zebras, for which he contributed an arrangement of Trinity by Snarky Puppy and played keyboards.
Max currently performs with the Jordan Kahn Music Company, plays weekly at the Koinonia Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, and regularly performs around DFW as a jazz pianist with his own quintet and many other ensembles.
Max has always had a passion for working with youth. He has worked as a camp counselor and tennis instructor, and was a teaching assistant at the Opus Ithaca School of Music Jazz Camp in 2022. Since 2019, Max has also worked with Running to Places Theater Company in Ithaca, NY as a Rehearsal, Audition, and Pit Orchestra Pianist, working with children from grades 6-12.