SENIOR Maxwell Fairman is both a remarkable violinist and an exceptional student. Fairman has been playing violin for 13 years and has performed at the White House as part of the Sphinx Perfect Fourth String Quartet, won first place in the 2019 NAACP’s National ACT-SO competition and played at Carnegie Hall.

Fairman is also currently the concertmaster of the CSYO Philharmonic, WHHS Chamber Orchestra and is the first violinist for the CSYO Nouveau Chamber Players.

“[Playing the violin is] my favorite way to express myself because I’m not that good at expressing myself through my words or my facial expressions and it’s a way to connect with people,” Fairman said.

Fairman’s most recent performance was as a soloist with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the CSYO at Music Hall. 

Along with his many musical accomplishments, he also excels academically. Fairman is a Presidential Scholar, National Merit Semifinalist, AP Scholar and has a perfect ACT score. 

In the future, Fairman hopes to become a professional violinist, play in a string quartet or be an orchestral musician. He wants to foster an interest in classical music from others through his work. 

“I hope to inspire people that come from different underrepresented communities to also pursue classical music, because right now… less than 2% of orchestral musicians are Black,” Fairman said.  “So if I am working hard, and I can win auditions, then I’m also educating other people so they can work hard and they can win auditions [and] hopefully we can get that percent up.”