Hailing from Philadelphia, Max Reese is excited to join the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for the 2026-27 season. Reese was previously a regular member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago and performed with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra during the 2023-24 season. Reese has additionally performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Akron Symphony Orchestra, Ballet Indiana, Chicago Fringe Opera, Caroga Lake Music Festival, Southeastern Young Artists, Rhythm is Image, and others. At the 2026 Caroga Lake Music Festival, he was engaged to play Rhapsody in Blue for members of the Gershwin family. He has additionally been a fellow at the Round Top Festival Institute and the Brevard Music Center.

Reese is an active educator and has a studio of clarinet students ranging from the ages of 7 to 85. While in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he was a regular educator in the CSO for Kids program. He is additionally a founding teacher at Virtu.Academy, and was a teaching artist at the DePaul Community Music division, where he taught clarinet in school districts throughout the Chicago area. Reese has also taught through the Ravinia Festival’s Reach, Teach, Play program in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. Expanding on his aptitude for education, he helped found the Empowered Creatives Project, a community-rooted project developed by musicians, artists, and storytellers who believe that everyone is innately creative and every story has value. He is the marketing director for Empowered Creatives. Reese received his bachelor’s degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and his master’s from DePaul University, where he studied with Richard Hawkins and Stephen Williamson, respectively.

Outside of music, Reese’s hobbies include collecting vinyl, learning about trains, cooking, writing poetry, and spending time in nature.