Max Volbers on tour in the USA with debut at Carnegie Hall (March 2026)

In March, Max Volbers will embark on a US tour with Concerto Köln and Shunske Sato. Concerts will take place on March 13 in San Diego, March 14 in San Francisco, and March 15 in Berkeley, before Max Volbers celebrates his debut at Carnegie Hall on March 18 as a special highlight. Further information about this concert can be found here.

Grand tour

Max Volbers at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn and at the Moritzburg Festival (February 2026)

On March 1, Max Volbers and his duo partner Alexander von Heißen (harpsichord) will perform their joint program “Foreign Masters” in the “Young Stars” concert series at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn. The duo will perform the same program two days later, on March 3, as part of the master concerts of the Moritzburg Festival at Albrechtsburg Castle in Dresden.

FOREIGN MASTERS

The program presents 18th-century London as an international music metropolis. It tells the story of ten composers who shaped the cultural scene and invites listeners to rediscover well-known and forgotten works from this period.

The program includes works by George Frideric Handel, Arcangelo Corelli, Giuseppe Sammartini, James Paisible, Johann Pepusch, Giuseppe Alberti, and others.

Max Volbers – new single (July 2025)

On July 11, the single “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen” by Concerto Köln with Marie-Sophie Pollak, conducted by Max Volbers, was released as one track of a new CD by Berlin Classics .

This aria from the cantata of the same name (BWV 51) is one of Bach’s best-known and most ambitious pieces for soprano. Even more magnificent than the original—in which a solo trumpet accompanies the soprano—is the acoustic setting that Bach’s eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, later created: the music is enriched by a second trumpet and timpani.

On this new recording, which Max Volbers initiated under his artistic direction, together with Concerto Köln and Marie-Sophie Pollak, the musical dispute is depicted between Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Adolf Scheibe, which began with a publication by the German-Danish composer and music critic Scheibe in 1736 in the magazine “Der critische Musicus”. Here he describes Bach’s music as “confused” and “bombastic,” to Bach’s displeasure. Bach’s response, with the help of his friend Johann Abraham Birnbaum, was not long in coming – and so a dispute ensued that lasted for years.

Concerto Köln, Marie-Sophie Pollak, and Max Volbers approach this debate by juxtaposing individual works by the two composers as musical arguments in this musical debate.

And so the album illustrates much more than simply the music of two contemporaries. It deals with the aesthetic generational conflict of that time and thus addresses the transition from High Baroque to Classical music.

Max Volbers’ concert in February (January 2025)

In fall 2024, Max Volbers released his new album “Foreign Masters” with harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen on Berlin Classics. Max Volbers appeared on ZDF TV morning show with his new album – you can watch his performance with von Heißen here. At the beginning of January 2025, the album was nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award in the Early Music category. In 2023, Max Volber’s debut CD “Whispers of Tradition” was awarded the OPUS KLASSIK 2023 in the category Young Artist of the Year.

“Foreign Masters is a kaleidoscope of music by composers who came to London from abroad or whose music was enthusiastically played there. Immigration back then gave rise to an incredibly diverse musical heritage. London was a cultural capital of Europe whose extraordinary musical life would have been unthinkable without the artists from abroad and their lively exchange,” says Max Volbers about “Foreign Masters”.

Volbers and von Heißen presented the program of the CD in December in the Essen Philharmonie and on New Year’s Day in Weikersheim. Max Volbers’ concert on Christmas Day with Concerto Köln at Cologne Philharmonie was also a big success. Other highlights in 2024 were Max Volbers’ concerts with Il Pomo d’Oro in Antwerp and La Chaux-de-Fonds. In February 2025, he will play a concert with the Hamburg Camerata at the Laeiszhalle in Hamburg and with the Kore Orchestra in Warsaw.

maxvolbers.de

Max Volbers: Foreign Masters nominated for German Record Critic’s Award (January 2025)

The new CD by recorder player Max Volbers, Foreign Masters, has been nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award. On Foreign Masters, Max Volbers, together with Alexander von Heißen (harpsichord), sheds light on the diverse international influences that shaped the London music scene of the 18th century. The album, released by Berlin Classics, has been nominated in the Early Music category (longlist 01/25).

More information can be found at schallplattenkritik.de and maxvolbers.de

Recorder player Max Volbers in the Essen Philharmonie (December 2024)

Under the title “Dance and Firework”, recorder player Max Volbers and harpsichordist Alexander von Heißen will present works by Arcangelo Corelli, Georg Friedrich Händel, Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli and others at the Philharmonie Essen on December 8.

This program has already been released on CD by Berlin Classics under the title “Foreign Masters” and can now be heard in a pre-Christmas setting under the title “Dance and Firework”. Here in the YouTube video you will find a small preview of the program.

Max Volbers, who was awarded the Opus Klassik as Young Artist of the Year in 2023, was a guest on the ZDF Morgenmagazin with Alexander von Heißen in September 2024, where they presented “Foreign Masters”. You can watch the performance on the morning show here.

Sunday, December 8, 11 a.m., Philharmonie Essen
George Frideric Handel: Overture from “Fireworks Music”, HWV 351
Giuseppe Sammartini: Sonata in G minor for flute and harpsichord, op. 13 no. 5
“Traditional”: ‘The Lass of Patie’s Mill’ (Scottish folk song) from ”A Collection af Old Scots Tunes”
“Traditional”: ‘Cease your funning’ (Scottish folk song) from ”Collection of the most favorite Old Songs Tunes in the Beggars opera”
George Frideric Handel: Prelude to “Vo’ far guerra”, Aria Armida from “Rinaldo”, HWV 7 (Act 2, Scene 10)
Giuseppe Matteo Alberti: Sonata in A minor for violin and harpsichord, op. 3 no. 4
Giovanni Stefano Carbonelli: “Aria con Variazioni” from Sonata da Camera No. 6 in A major for violin and basso continuo
George Frideric Handel: “Pifa” from the oratorio “The Messiah”, HWV 56
Arcangelo Corelli: Sonata in D minor for violin and basso continuo, op. 5 no. 12 “La Follia”

Max Volbers, recorder
Alexander von Heißen, harpsichord

Further information can be found at theater-essen.de/programm

Max Volbers conducts concert with Il Pomo d’Oro (November 2024)

Recorder player Max Volbers will give a concert with Il Pomo d’Oro and soprano Julie Fuchs in La Chaux-de-Fonds on November 27. The program includes works by Antonio Vivaldi and George Frideric Handel. At this concert, Volbers will play the recorder, lead the ensemble and play the harpsichord.

This concert will be recorded by RTS Espace 2 and can be listened to here:

www.rts.ch/audio-podcast/