Massimo Mercelli He is the flutist in the world who boasts the most important dedications and collaborations with the greatest composers: they have written for him or he has performed the world premieres of personalities of the calibre of Penderecki, Gubaidulina, Glass, Nyman, Bacalov, Galliano, Morricone, Galliano, Sollima, Piovani is Gabriel Prokofiev.

Self-taught and then a student of the famous flautists Maxence Larrieu and André Jaunet, at nineteen he became first flute at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, winning the “Francesco Cilea Award", The "International Musical Days Competition” and two editions of the “Stresa International Competition”.

Massimo Mercelli plays regularly in the major concert venues of the world: Carnegie Hall in New York, Herkulessaal and Gasteig in Munich, NCPA in Beijing, 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, Grand Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Berlin and Moscow Philharmonic and at the Festivals of Ljubljana, Berlin, Santander, Vilnius, St. Petersburg, Bonn, Festival 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, Catherine Spaak, Susanna Mildonian, and with orchestras such as the Moscow Soloists, the Wiener 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 Solisti Aquilani and I Musici.

Among the most significant milestones of his career are the first performance 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, and at the Warsaw Philharmonic at the festival dedicated to Krzysztof Penderecki's 75th birthday; then in China with Luis Bacalov at the Shanghai Expo and the world premiere of Michael Nyman's Concerto No. 1 for flute and orchestra dedicated to him,
the concert at the Tchaikovsky 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 the world premiere of the new concerto dedicated to him by Sofia Gubaidulina, participation in the opening concert of the Festival for the 80th birthday of Krysztof Penderecki at the Warsaw Philharmonic, the concert dedicated to Italy in Sochi during the Olympics.

In the recording field, it is worth mentioning the CD 'Massimo Mercelli performs Philip Glass' with the complete flute music of Philip Glass published by “Orange Mountain Record”, Philip Glass's record company, Bach Flute Sonatas with Ramin Bahrami for DECCA, then again for DECCA the new CD Bach SansSouci with Ramin Bahram, and on RAI5 a series of 5 documentaries dedicated to them on Bach's sonatas.

He recently presented in first performance 'Jade', concert dedicated to him by Richard Galliano at the Izmir Festival with the composer's presence on stage.
In November 2018 he was the only Italian invited to participate in the Festival for the 85th birthday of Krysztof Penderecki at the Warsaw Philharmonic.

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, at the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan he performed alongside John Malkovich.

In 2022 he was a soloist in the “Dante concerto” written for him by Gabriel Prokofiev and in 2023, with The Venetian Soloists in first performance of 3 concertos for flute and orchestra dedicated to him composed by Oscar winner Nicola Piovani .

Massimo Mercelli also boasts a long experience in musical organization: he is President and Artistic Director ofEmilia Romagna Festival since its foundation, and in December 2024 he took up the role of Artistic director of the Festival of Nations of Città di Castello.