Maxime McKinley graduated with great distinction from the Conservatoire de musique Montréal in 2004, where he studied composition with Michel Gonneville. In 2009, he completed a doctorate in composition at the University of Montreal, under the direction of Isabelle Panneton. He has often spent time in Paris, where he notably studied with Martin Matalon and Gérard Pesson. His music is regularly performed by a number of renowned soloists, ensembles and orchestras in Quebec and around the world. He received the Prix Opus “Composer of the Year” from the Conseil québécois de la musique in 2014, the Prix d'Europe de composition 2009 (Prix Père-Fernand-Lindsay), eleven prizes in the Socan Foundation's national Young Composers competition (2003-2011), and the Prix collégien de musique contemporaine (2011). He was composer-in-residence at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur (2011-2014) and, from 2014 to 2016, carried out a research-creation project on the poetry of Philippe Beck at the Canada Research Chair in Aesthetics and Poetics, with the support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC). From 2016 to 2023, McKinley was editor-in-chief of the journal Circuit, musiques contemporaines. In 2015, he received the Prix Opus “Article of the Year” award. In 2017, his exchanges with composer Pascal Dusapin (correspondence and interviews) were published in France by Presses universitaires du Septentrion. He teaches composition and musical analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Since his earliest works, his music has echoed the work of some thirty creators and thinkers from the visual arts, cinema, dance, literature, architecture, philosophy and psychoanalysis.