Max Grimm is a German pianist, composer, and conductor whose artistic work focuses on new and contemporary music. As a pianist, he is a multiple prize winner of the nationwide "Jugend musiziert" competition and in 2023 was awarded First Prize and the EMCY Special Prize at the Brin d'Herbe International Competition for Contemporary Music in Orléans, which also led to an invitation to the Festival des Jeunes Talents in Cannes.

Max regularly collaborates with contemporary composers, including Rebecca Saunders. He received important artistic inspiration from the Lucerne Academy of Contemporary Music, the epoche_f funding program in collaboration with musicians from Ensemble Modern, and through lessons with Nicolas Hodges during the Darmstadt Summer Courses 2025. He performs as a soloist and ensemble musician in various formations and has appeared with, among others, the Saxony-Anhalt State Youth Orchestra, the Wernigerode Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, and the Halle State Orchestra. His work with the ensemble kollektiv.ars.symbiotica, which is dedicated to the interdisciplinary exploration of early and contemporary music, is particularly significant and provided him with his first in-depth practical experience as a conductor.

Max received his first piano lessons at the age of five. He studied at the Latina August Hermann Francke State Grammar School in Halle with Prof. Ragna Schirmer and, since 2021, has been a junior student at the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy University of Music and Theatre Leipzig with Prof. Markus Tomas, with whom he began his regular music studies in 2024. He also attended masterclasses with, among others, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Konrad Elser.

Alongside his work as a pianist, Max is deeply committed to composition. Even during his studies at the Latina August Hermann Francke, he received instruction from Dr. Franz Kaern-Biederstedt. He is currently seeking further inspiration from Prof. Claus-Steffen Mahnkopf. His orchestral work, *mouvement de l'eau*, received an award at the MDR Handel Experiment competition; he also won prizes at the nationwide "Jugend komponiert" (Youth Composes) competition in 2021 and 2025. Since 2022, he has also been studying conducting at the Leipzig University of Music and Theatre, initially with Alexander Stessin, and since 2024 with Dominik Beykirch.

His particular interest lies in the connection between interpretation, composition and conducting practice, as well as the development of contemporary musical forms of expression.