A frequent champion of the music of our own time, she has conducted regional, national, and world premieres of works, including those by Andrew Ager, Abbie Betinis, Judith Bingham, Levi Brown, Andrew Carter, Ola Gjeilo, David Hurd, Gabriel Jackson, Jenny Olivia Johnson, James MacMillan, Stephanie Martin, Cecilia McDowall, David McGregor, Philip Moore, Bruce Neswick, Tarik O’Regan, Arvo Pärt, Sarah Quartel, Jake Runestad, Falko Steinbach, Joby Talbot, Zachary Wadsworth, Judith Weir and several others. 

Thévenot is acknowledged as one who brings singers of all ages and abilities to artful performance through an understanding of the music and its context in the world around them. Her passionate artistry, combined with a pioneering desire to educate, unites music, art, and community. This unique approach has led her to resurrect and mount large-scale choral works, including Thomas Tallis’ Spem in Alium, and to create the intergenerational, 45-minute performance project A Children’s Messiah by G. F. Handel, now in its 11th season.

Through her work with so many wonderfully imaginative and creative children, adults, and professional musicians, Maxine has demonstrated that the power of music, combined with educational goals that highlight the values of diversity and social responsibility, can build our society. One such event raised over $10,000 at a benefit concert for the local charity Barrett House, and more recently she helped raise $7,000 for Church Unbound.

In New Mexico, she has conducted the New Mexico Philharmonic, Chatter orchestra, Friends of Cathedral Music orchestra, and the PVNM orchestra in fresh and inspired interpretations of major choral-orchestral works, including Bach’s St. John’s Passion, Handel's Messiah, James MacMillan’s setting of Miserere, Seven Last Words from the Cross, and Cantos Sagrados; Henry Mollicone’s Beatitude Mass: Mass for the Homeless, the Requiem settings by Cherubini, Fauré, and Duruflé, and Enrique Granados' Canto de las Estrellas with pianist and Granados scholar Douglas Riva. 

As chorus master, Dr. Thévenot frequently collaborates with New Mexico’s finest orchestras, offering moving and dynamic interpretations of standard large-scale choral repertoire. She has prepared choirs for the New Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra (Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Holiday Pops); All-Star Orchestra (Beethoven Ninth Symphony, and the world premiere of the Opera, Zozobra: The Revenge); The Figueroa Project (Bach Magnificat); and Santa Fe Pro Musica (Haydn Creation, Mozart's Requiem in d minor), for conductors Dante Anzolini, Grant Cooper, Joe Illick, Guillermo Figueroa, and Thomas O’Connor.

Internationally, Maxine has led choirs in concerts and liturgical services in prestigious venues, including Canterbury Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, and St. Paul’s Cathedral, London; Washington National Cathedral; and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, NYC. Her career as a concert organist has allowed her to perform throughout North America, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, and the UK.

Dr. Thévenot made her Carnegie Hall début on June 28, 2026, conducting a chorus of over 200 singers from across the U.S.A. and the 55-member New England Symphonic Ensemble in a performance of Maurice Duruflé's Requiem, Opus 9 (full-orchestral version).

Thévenot received her Doctor of Musical Arts and Master of Music degrees in organ performance from the renowned Manhattan School of Music, NYC, and was twice awarded the Bronson Ragan Award for "most outstanding organ performance." While at MSM, she was the founding director of Concentus women’s choir. She earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education (with distinction) at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Maxine is an Associate of the Royal Canadian College of Organists and of the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto. She was made an Honorary Fellow of the National College of Music, London, UK, in 2006 for her "services to music."

Recordings of choirs conducted by Maxine Thévenot alongside her solo organ recordings may be heard on the RavenCD label.