Max Milian, a senior in Commercial Music at the South Carolina School of the Arts at Anderson University, received an award from the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM).
The NAMM President’s Innovation Award honors college students who demonstrate excellence in the field of music. According to NAMM, the award is presented to students who have proven dedication to pursuing a career in music to include the areas of music performance, music education, media, sound engineering/audio, event technology, production, administration, management and/or marketing along with product creation and innovation.
As an award winner, Milian will travel to the NAMM Show in June at Anaheim, California, where he will have access to professional development opportunities, as well as concerts, networking sessions and other activities. Joining Milian will be AU alumnus Joel McCann, who won the NAMM award in 2021 but was unable to travel because of the COVID pandemic.
Milian loves the NAMM award’s emphasis on innovation.
“That means a lot to me because that’s very much a part of who I strive to be as a musician and someone who pushes forward; not just tries to excel in what I do but I want to find good ways to do that, new ways to do that,” said Milian.
Milian has had what he calls a “phenomenally busy” senior year, filled with opportunities.
“Last semester I got to assistant music direct the production of ‘Guys and Dolls.’ I also have been producing all year my senior project, which is an album of 10 arrangements that I have performed with the band AUthenticity over the past four years. It features both current and former students that were in the band at the time we performed them. It’s been a great big family reunion and a project I poured a lot of time and energy into,” said Milian, who has also been busy student directing AUthenticity during the fall and spring semesters. He’ll also be performing at Soirée.
The finale for Milian at Anderson will be directing and arranging music for The President’s Gala April 22 and 23 at Henderson Auditorium in the Rainey Fine Arts Center. After two years of pandemic, Milian is excited that he and others will be able to perform to a large audience.
“We’ve missed that, but coming back to it is really exciting,” he said.
This summer, after Milian graduates, he will direct music and have a leading role in the Mauldin Cultural Center’s production of “In the Heights.” He will then return to his native Miami, where he’s seeking to become a worship leader at a local church and to become involved in area theatre and musical productions.