I was born in Los Angeles on July 25, 1996. I’m a Leo with Pisces rising. I got on my first airplane when I was 2 months old. I spent a few months in the South of France, then we moved to Sweden, when I was just 6 months old. I lived in Stockholm until I was 10 years old. I speak fluent Swedish.

I’ve been on 132 flights and visited 18 countries. On my last European trip I spent six weeks in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. I guess you can say I love traveling.

I was born musical. My mom tells me that while she was pregnant with me, she was listening to Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, and I kicked in perfect syncopation to “death knocking at the door,” not once, but twice.

At six I started playing violin and studied for 5 years. At age eleven I realized I loved the piano, so I switched instruments.

In 2008 I began learning to play classical piano. Two years later I won the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Festival Piano Competition at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, representing South Florida at the State Championship in Jacksonville, Florida.

I then spent a year studying jazz piano with Brian Murphy both privately and at the University of Miami Young Musicians Camp Honors Jazz Program 2011 and 2012, where I also studied with Ira Sullivan.

Currently I study jazz piano with Daniel Strange, lecturer and adjunct professor at University of Miami Frost School of Music. I also study classical piano with Giselle Brodsky, Artistic Director of the Miami International Piano Festival and former teacher of jazz pianist, Antonio Madruga.

This summer, 2013, I received a full ride from Stanford University to attend the Stanford Jazz Institute in Palo Alto, CA. I am also the recipient of current scholarships from the Hollywood Music Club, the Coral Gables Music Club and the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

For the 2012 UM Honors Jazz Program I received a scholarship from Arturo Sandoval. The previous year I received a scholarship from the UM Musicans Camp. I’ve been playing jazz for just under 2 years now.

Last summer 2012 I also received grants from the Miami Arts Charter School and the Litchfield Jazz Festival to attend the Litchfield Jazz Camp in Kent, Connecticut for two weeks. There I studied with Onaje Allen Gumbs and Julian Shore, and performed at the festival.

This past year I was invited to join the Coral Gables Congregational Church Community Arts Program All-Star Jazz Ensemble. We’ve performed live on the air on WDNA Jazz Radio, as well as at Jazz in the Gables, and a Christmas concert at St. Agnes’ Episcopal Church in Overtown, Miami. 

I spend about 6 to 7 hours a day playing piano, and the rest of the time I listen to great performances, transcribe or study music history. I’m committed to music as my profession.

In March 2012 I did my first professional gig, which was to compose, play and record the music for a 30 second TV commercial that’s airing in South Florida on channels 7 and 10, as well as internationally. Somebody told me they saw it in Curacao. It’s for a non-profit organization that helps homeless families get on their feet.

You can see some of my performances and random thoughts here on my website MaxHolm.com

My greatest jazz piano inspiration right now is Keith Jarrett. I’ve heard a lot of different stories about him, some of them not so flattering, but my favorite is one from my own grandfather, Sven Holm, who is a Swedish painter/sculptor. Sven met Keith Jarrett in Lacoste in the South of France back before the famous Koln concert. Keith had just broken up with a girlfriend, and a friend of his called my grandfather to ask if Keith could stay at the house. Keith showed up with a new girlfriend and stayed a month. Sven heard Keith improvise on the organ in a local church, and he remembers it being an amazing experience. If I ever meet Keith, I’ll ask him if he remembers my grandfather Sven. Here’s a drawing of the house in LaCoste my mom did:

I recently read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and it changed my life.  Along the same vein, I also find the actor Will Smith inspiring, and I like to watch his YouTube video about how your words and thoughts have power.

My goal musically and in my life is to be as pure a channel of creativity as I possibly can be. 

I’ve got two passports, a US and a Swedish, so I can live and work anywhere in the US or the European Union, which is just how I like it. I plan on taking advantage of that throughout my career.

I’m looking for gigs, so you can reach me by email through this site or leave a voicemail at 305-735-1040. Serious inquiries only.