Massimo Mercelli is the world’s flutist who boasts the most important dedications and collaborations with major composers: he has written for him or performed world premieres of personalities such as Penderecki, Gubaidulina, Glass, Nyman, Sollima, Galliano, Carrara, Gabriel Prokofiev, and four Oscar awards: Bacalov, Morricone, Piovani, and Rachel Portman.

Self-taught and then a student of the famous flutists Maxence Larrieu and André Jaunet, at the age of nineteen he became first flute at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, winning the “Francesco Cilea Prize”, the “Giornate Musicali International Competition” and two editions of the “Stresa International Competition”.

Massimo plays regularly at major concert venues around the world: Carnegie Hall in New York, Herculessaal and Gasteig in Munich, NCPA and Beijing Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Teatro alla Scala, RAI Auditorium in Turin, Victoria Hall in Geneva, San Martin in the Fields and Wigmore Hall in London, Parco della Musica in Rome, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Warsaw Philharmonic, Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, UN auditorium in New York, Great Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Berlin and Moscow Philharmonic and at the Festivals of Ljubljana, Berlin, Santander, Vilnius, St. Petersburg, Bonn, Cervantino, Rheingau, Jerusalem, Warsaw, collaborating with artists such as Yuri Bashmet, Valery Gergiev, Krzysztof Penderecki, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Massimo Quarta, Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, Peter-Lukas Graf, Maxence Larrieu, Aurèle Nicolet, Anna Caterina Antonacci, Ramin Bahrami, Albrecht Mayer, Gabor Boldowsky, Jiri Belolhavec, Federico Mondelci, John Malkovich, Igudesman & Joo, Jan Latham-Koenig, Yang Yang, Catherine SpaakSusanna Mildonian, and with orchestras such as the Moscow Soloists, the Vienna Symphoniker, the Solisti Veneti, the Cameristi della Scala, the Prague Philarmonia,
the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, the Virtuosi Italiani, the Salzburg Soloists, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, the Beijing Opera, the Solisti Aquilani, and I Musici.

His highlights include the world premiere of Philip Glass’s “Façades” with the composer at the piano, the world premiere of Ennio Morricone’s cantata “Vuoto d’anima piena” conducted by the composer himself, concerts at the Warsaw Philharmonic at the festival dedicated to Krzysztof Penderecki’s 75th, 80th, and 85th birthdays, of which she remains a leading interpreter; then in China with Luis Bacalov at the Shanghai Expo and the world premiere of Penderecki’s Piano Concerto No. 1 for flute and orchestra by Michael Nyman dedicated to him, the gala concert at the Čhaikovsky Hall in Moscow under the direction of Yuri Bashmet performing “Contrafactus” by Giovanni Sollima, also dedicated to him and the one at the MusikVerein in Vienna and the world premiere of “Warum” written for him by Sofia Gubaidulina, and the participation in the concert dedicated to Italy in Sochi during the Olympics.

Recordings include the CD Massimo Mercelli Performs Philip Glass, featuring the complete flute music of Philip Glass, released by Orange Mountain Record and produced by Philip Glass; the Bach Flute Sonatas and Bach Sans Soucis with Ramin Bahrami for DECCA; and a series of five documentaries on Bach’s sonatas on RAI5; the complete Tartini Concertos for Naxos; and, recently, “Memories” for SZ Sugar, featuring pieces dedicated to him by Penderecki, Bacalov, and Sollima.

In 2019, for his birthday, he performed Michael Nyman’s Concerto No. 2, dedicated to him, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; and in 2020, again at the Teatro alla Scala, Ennio Morricone’s Notturno Passacaglia, also dedicated to him; in 2021, he performed alongside John Malkovich at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan. In 2022, he was a soloist in the “Dante Concerto” written for him by Gabriel Prokofiev and in 2023, with I Solisti Veneti, in the first performance of “3 Phenomena” for flute and orchestra, dedicated to him and composed by Oscar-winning composer Nicola Piovani; in 2025, he celebrated his 50th anniversary with the world premiere of Filmscaspes by Oscar-winning composer Rachel Portman, a piece dedicated to him.

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