Debut album, released September 15, 2024:

Portraits & Dialogues

Portraits and Dialogues is Winningham’s debut album, comprised of original works written for and including the double bass. Born to a family of visual artists, Winningham’s music has a visually-driven component that—in addition to its exuberantly virtuosic qualities— distinguishes it programmatically from other contemporary classical artists of our time. The first two pieces on the album… Manifestations for Solo Bass, and the internationally recognized Tabula Rasa… intend to evoke the timeless medium of portraiture often found in visual art traditions. Like with visual mediums, Winningham uses his musical portraits to describe archetypal identities and roles that are shared and circulated within the human experience. The Wanderer and The Mystic portray a mentee/mentor relationship, while The Sentry portrays a vigilant protector. In Acrimony & Ascent, Winningham portrays a vitriolic debate with two opposing perspectives. Two characters are played by Winningham on double bass and Quincy Doenges’ energetic percussion playing.

Max Winningham is a performer, composer, and improvisor born in Houston, Texas. After graduating from Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts under the private instruction of Deborah Dunham, Max went on to acquire a BMA in Double Bass Performance from Northwestern University, pursuing the degree with the guidance and mentorship of Andrew Raciti. Though his primary training is classical, his pursuits include a wide variety of genres and sensibilities, including electronic music, bluegrass, and jazz. Max has performed and studied internationally in the USA, France, Canada, and Switzerland— and has participated in masterclasses and workshops with esteemed performers and pedagogues such as François Rabbath, Paul Ellison, and John Clayton.

In 2018, Max spent a year in Paris studying with François Rabbath, and was awarded the International Rabbath Institute de Paris (IRIP) performance and teaching certificates— as well as one of the Artist-in-Residence positions at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris. Max has recently finished a double MM degree in double bass performance and composition at Baylor University, studying with Sandor Ostlund and Scott McAllister. In 2022 his piece Tabula Rasa was awarded the grand prize for an unaccompanied solo bass work in the International Society of Bassist’s David Walter Composition Competition, and he was afforded the opportunity to perform Tabula Rasa in New York’s Carnegie Hall through Baylor University’s Semper Pro Musica Competition. In 2024, Max was awarded the grand prize a second time by the ISB David Walter Composition Competition for his piece Manifestations for Solo Bass. Max is currently pursuing a Specialist in Music (SM) at the University of Michigan.

When not performing, Max spends time exploring studio recording and sound designing techniques, as well as building synths through electronic and analog means for his own compositions.