About Maxwell
Maxwell Kaye is a young composer who aims to use music as a medium to express the beauty of the world through his own personal lens. He is inspired by all forms of art: music, visual art, drama and literature all work together to give life to his work. Most of his music is programmatic in some way: some of his compositions tell explicit stories, while others simply express vague emotions or concepts. With everything he writes, he seeks to tell these stories in a way that will inspire his listeners to reflect on their own place in the world with a sense of reverence and passion.
Born in New Jersey in 2002, he has had melodies in his head for as long as he can remember, and began writing music at the age of seven, when an enthrallment with Mozart inspired him to teach himself to read music so he could write down his own ideas. He has since received several awards for his compositions, and his music has been featured in programs at the Eastman School of Music, the Curtis Institute, and Pacific Lutheran University. His work has also been featured numerous times at the Charles Ives Music Festival (CIMF) in his hometown of Ridgefield, Connecticut, and he was commissioned by the Mannes Sounds Festival for their 2023-24 season. Most recently, he won the Orpheus Chamber Singers' 30th Anniversary Composition Competition, and has been commissioned a new work for their 2024-25 season.
He took up the clarinet at the age of ten, and since then, the clarinet and his experiences playing it in orchestral and chamber ensembles have greatly informed his work as a composer. From 2018 to 2021, he served as co-principal clarinet in the Western Connecticut Youth Orchestra (WCYO), and at the end of his tenure, he won the WCYO's annual essay contest and received a scholarship which has helped him pay for his studies at the Mannes School of Music in New York City, where he is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Music (BM) degree in composition in the studio of Lowell Liebermann.
The Cascade Sinfonietta, under the direction of conductors Ryan Bair and Nicoletta Moss Miller (not pictured), playing Maxwell Kaye's Fugal Overture at the Cascade Conducting Masterclass at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, U.S.A., on July 1, 2023.
Members of the Rochester Philharmonic perform Maxwell Kaye's String Quartet No. 1 at Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, U.S.A., on July 25, 2019.