Max Mabry is an American composer and performer whose musical background— that ranges from classical and jazz to electronic and rock—shapes his eclectic style. A bass and Bb clarinetist and jazz saxophonist, he has performed widely with contemporary ensembles in an acoustic music setting. This flexibility in performance is carried into his roles as a composer, where he pushes to create a diverse understanding of music and incorporate the music he surrounds himself with into his musical style. The focus of his music is often visually or narratively driven, even if it is only being performed on stage. This has translated into indie work for films and video games, where he blends styles to create unique sound worlds tailored to the setting of the project he is working on.…

Max Mabry

Max Mabry is an American composer and performer whose musical background— that ranges from classical and jazz to electronic and rock—shapes his eclectic style. A bass and Bb clarinetist and jazz saxophonist, he has performed widely with contemporary ensembles in an acoustic music setting. This flexibility in performance is carried into his roles as a composer, where he pushes to create a diverse understanding of music and incorporate the music he surrounds himself with into his musical style. The focus of his music is often visually or narratively driven, even if it is only being performed on stage. This has translated into indie work for films and video games, where he blends styles to create unique sound worlds tailored to the setting of the project he is working on.…

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Max Mabry is an American composer and performer whose musical background— that ranges from classical and jazz to electronic and rock—shapes his eclectic style. A bass and Bb clarinetist and jazz saxophonist, he has performed widely with contemporary ensembles in an acoustic music setting. This flexibility in performance is carried into his roles as a composer, where he pushes to create a diverse understanding of music and incorporate the music he surrounds himself with into his musical style. The focus of his music is often visually or narratively driven, even if it is only being performed on stage. This has translated into indie work for films and video games, where he blends styles to create unique sound worlds tailored to the setting of the project he is working on.

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Language

English
Fluent

Work Experience

Teaching Assistant at Boston University
August 1, 2025 - Present
Building lesson plans that incorporate music analysis and ear training in a college-level pedagogy setting; responsible for time management, communication, and compiling course evaluations with feedback.

Education

Master's in Music Composition at Boston University
September 1, 2025 - May 8, 2027
Bachelor of Music in Music Composition and Performance at University of Oregon
September 1, 2018 - August 1, 2022
High School Diploma at Newberg High School
September 1, 2014 - June 1, 2018

Qualifications

Latin Honor of Cum Laude
January 11, 2030 - August 1, 2022
Outstanding Undergraduate Scholar
January 11, 2030 - August 1, 2022
Grammy Nomination
January 11, 2030 - May 8, 2026

Industry Experience

Education, Media & Entertainment, Non-Profit Organization, Computers & Electronics
    paper Gumiho

    This piece was written as a part of an intercultural collaboration as a part of a summer music festival. I researched and got the opportunity of writing for the gayageum, a plucked instrument from Korea. My goal with the piece was to use the unique sound of the instrument to embody my own image of the cunning and beautiful nine-tailed fox from Korean mythology, showing the different elements of it’s personality through different musical soundspaces.

    paper The Little Bird

    This music was made and done with my colleague Isaak Boorstein as a part of the Portland Indie Game Jam in 2020. The game was a very stylized pixel art game about a little bird wanting to get revenge on the hunter that shot it down. It was a platformer, and we really wanted to go for a soundtrack that invoked nostalgia and whimsy, with small touches of animal crossing and acoustic sounds mixed into the soundspace.

    paper Wolf! for string quartet

    This piece was written for string quartet based off of the fable The Boy Who Cried Wolf, which is attributed to Aesop, a writer that lived in ancient Greece from 620 - 564 BCE. The melodic material is heavily influenced by reels, a traditional Scottish dance and style of playing music, and often is associated with fiddle repertoire in North America and the British Isles.

    To briefly summarize The Boy Who Cried Wolf, it tells the story of a shepherd boy who is charged with taking care of a flock of sheep. He is told by his master that if the flock is in danger, he can cry wolf and the town will come to help, though he should not abuse this power. The boy ignores him, and cries wolf multiple times simply for the attention of the townspeople. As he does this, less and less people come to his aid, and when the wolf actually comes the last time, no one, not even his master appears to help him. The wolf then catches the boy and his sheep before returning to the forest, its hunger sated and only a boy having stood in its way. This fable is attempting to teach the lesson that liars and attention-seekers will not be rewarded by the people around them, and that you should instead be honest and truthful.