Biography
Max Addae (he/him) is an award-winning vocal arranger, performer-composer, educator, and interactive music technologist based in Brooklyn, NY. His work centers on the voice as both an expressive instrument and a site of experimentation, spanning a cappella, choral, musical theatre, and electroacoustic music. Across these mediums, he is drawn to projects that expand the possibilities of human expression and empower others to discover their innate creative potential.
He holds a Master of Science in Media Technology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he worked as a Graduate Research Assistant in the Media Lab’s Opera of the Future group under the mentorship of Tod Machover. His Master’s Thesis, VocalCords, explored tactile interaction with the singing voice through a custom-designed string instrument built from rubber-cord stretch sensors, allowing performers to physically shape and augment their voices in real time. The project was awarded First Prize at the 2024 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Music Technology from Oberlin College & Conservatory, where he studied composition and creative coding under the guidance of Eli Stine, Aurie Hsu, and Tom Lopez.
His compositions have been programmed and recognized internationally by organizations including the International Society of Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) and the Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI), as well as at festivals and concert series such as the Indiana State University Music Now Festival, the Oberlin Danenberg Honors Recital, and the Kansas City Vitas Chamber Choir series. His vocal arrangements have been performed by scholastic and professional ensembles across the United States and have received multiple awards from the Contemporary A Cappella Recording Awards (CARAs).
He currently serves as the Bass & Co-Music Director of internationally touring a cappella group, Backtrack Vocals, and regularly performs with the New York Vocal Collective, a brand new pop/jazz/R&B choir directed by Grammy award-winning producer & arranger Ben Bram.