Max Winningham is a performer, composer, and improviser from Houston, Texas. He began his studies at Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts with Deborah Dunham, and later earned a BMA in Double Bass Performance from Northwestern University under the mentorship of Andrew Raciti. Though classically trained, his work spans a wide range of genres, including electronic music, bluegrass, and jazz. He has performed and studied internationally across the United States, France, Canada, and Switzerland, and participated in masterclasses and workshops with François Rabbath, Paul Ellison, and John Clayton.

In 2018, Max studied in Paris with François Rabbath, earning both the International Rabbath Institute de Paris (IRIP) performance and teaching certificates, as well as an Artist-in-Residence position at the Cité Internationale des Arts. He holds dual MM degrees in double bass performance and composition from Baylor University, where he studied with Sandor Ostlund and Scott McAllister. His recent recognition includes second place in the 2025 International Society of Bassists (ISB) Solo Competition, as well as first prizes in the ISB’s David Walter Composition Competition for his works Tabula Rasa (2022) and Manifestations (2024). In 2022, he also performed Tabula Rasa at Carnegie Hall through Baylor University’s Semper Pro Musica Competition. In 2025, Max was a fellow at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival, where he collaborated with leading voices in contemporary music. He is currently pursuing a Specialist in Music (SM) degree at the University of Michigan.

An active chamber musician, Max is one half of the Terracotta Duo with percussionist Paige Madden. Collaboration and community are at the core of Max’s artistry: he views music as a vehicle for storytelling, a means of building empathy, and a way of creating connections across boundaries of genre, culture, and lived experience.

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.