Acclaimed by Strad Magazine for his "extremely compelling" interpretations, Max Zorin enjoys a multifaceted career as a soloist, chamber musician, and educator. His debut album, "French Touch," clinched a gold medal from the Global Music Awards while Strings Magazine praised his playing as "simply magnificent."

Max Zorin has appeared in concerts throughout the United States, South America, Europe, Asia, Israel, Russia, and Ukraine. Notable venues include Tchaikovsky Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Odessa Opera Theatre, Salle Moliere, Henan Art Center in China. He performed with the Saint Petersburg State Orchestra, Odessa Philharmonic, Orchestre de Chambre de Lyon, Williamsport Symphony, Pennsylvania Chamber Orchestra, and San Jose Youth Symphony. Summer festival appearances include the Granada International Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, and Music Alp, collaborating with distinguished musicians, among them Maxim Vengerov, Itamar Golan, Henry Demarquette, Romano Pallottini, and the Grammy Award-winning Parker Quartet.

As an advocate of new music and artistic collaborations, both inside and outside the classical realm, Zorin premiered numerous works and shared the stage with genre-bending artists like fusion violinist Didier Lockwood and rock guitarist Rik Emmett. His groundbreaking 2015 music video featuring an original arrangement of "Mack the Knife" for violin and jazz trio earned him the Emerging Artist award, by the Global Music Awards.

"Zorin colors his tone so cleverly that you might not even realize that you are hearing a violin at the beginning. And throughout the suite, this isn't a classical musician who is pretending to play jazz: This is the real thing." Fanfare Magazine (review of Mack The Knife)

Sharing his passion with aspiring musicians, Zorin is on the faculty at Penn State University and conducts masterclasses in musical institutions worldwide from London's Royal Academy of Music to the Stolarsky School of Music in Ukraine. He is also the co-artistic director of Rencontres Musicales Internationales des Graves; a summer music festival blending masterclasses and concerts with wine tasting, creating a harmonious celebration in the renowned wineries of Bordeaux.

Born in Israel into a family of professional musicians, Max began studying the violin at the age of five with his father, an illustrious violinist from Odesa (Ukraine). Max gave his first public performances when he was eight years old and at 17 won a First Prize at the Corpus Christi International Competition.

Aside from his father, his principal teachers included Dorothy De Lay, Naoko Tanaka, Peter Oundjian, Ani Kavafian, and Philip Setzer. Max holds degrees from the Juilliard School, Yale University, and a doctorate from Stony Brook University.

Max performs on a violin crafted by J.B. Vuillaume (Paris, 1850) and a bow by Edwin Clement (Paris, 2008).

Pianist Christopher Guzman was appointed Professor of Piano at the Bienen School of Music in September 2023. He enjoys an international performing career, showcasing a broad range of styles from the Baroque era to the avant-garde. Since winning top prizes in international competitions such as the Walter M. Naumburg Competition, the Seoul International Music Competition, and the Isang Yun Competition, Guzman has performed across Europe, North and South America, and Asia. As a result of winning the top prize at the Concours International de Piano d’Orléans in Orléans, France, he has toured France extensively, giving performances and teaching masterclasses.

Guzman has appeared in concert in major international venues including Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, Leipzig’s Gewandhaus, Buenos Aires’s CCK, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and others. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with the classical music world’s most exciting soloists, including Ilya Gringolts, Antoine Tamestit, David Fray, and Jeremy Denk, among others. He continually performs with members of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra. He appears regularly on the New York Philharmonic’s chamber music series “Philharmonic Ensembles,” and recently performed with musicians of the Chicago Symphony at their home in Orchestra Hall.

While Guzman has won multiple international prizes for his performances of traditional repertoire, much of his career has been centered on music written after 1900. His performances have included world premieres by Donald Martino, Nico Muhly, and Paul Schoenfield. The New York Times hailed his performance of Christopher Theofanidis’s Statues as “coiled” and “explosive.” His CD of German and Austrian music from the past 100 years, Vienne et après, is available on the Tessitures label. His CD of music of Paul Reale on the Naxos Label, Chopin’s Ghosts, was included in Fanfare magazine’s Top Five releases of 2018. He has subsequently recorded two additional albums of Reale’s music, including chamber music and concerti, to much critical acclaim. Guzman will release a premiere video recording of the piano works of Mexican composer Carlos Chávez in 2023.

Born in Texas, Guzman began studying piano at age nine and violoncello two years later. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Juilliard School, an artist diploma from the New England Conservatory, and a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. His primary teachers have included Jerome Lowenthal, Robert McDonald, Anton Nel, and the late Patricia Zander. Guzman is currently Professor of Piano at Pennsylvania State University.

Violinist Max Zorin and pianist Chris Guzman join forces and breathe life into timeless masterpieces, featuring sonatas by César Franck and Claude Debussy, along with Gabriel Fauré's hauntingly beautiful "Après Un rêve."