Audience Award
Born in Munich in 1993, Max Eisinger began playing the violin at the age of five. Six years later, he made his concert debut at the Munich Philharmonic, followed by numerous performances as a jazz, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout Europe and beyond. Max studied classical violin, jazz, and composition in Nuremberg, Hanover, Warsaw, and Amsterdam, where his teachers included Stephan Braun and Mateusz Smoczyński. Growing up in a German-Israeli family, Klezmer and Jewish culture have become distinctive elements of Max’s musical identity. In 2025, he served as composer, arranger, and soloist of a music theatre production at the Schlosstheater Celle that brought together Jewish, Israeli, and Palestinian actors and musicians. His Feuerbach Quartett is one of Europe’s leading crossover string quartets, with performances at the Salzburg Festival, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, and many other renowned concert halls and festivals. Max has composed commissioned works for the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra (2025), Dutch National Opera & Ballet (2021), the Yiddish Theatre Festival in Bucharest (2026), and other prestigious institutions. As a regular guest teacher of improvisation, composition, and chamber music, Max has worked with the Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam, the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media, and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. He was awarded the Opus Klassik in 2021.