Massimiliano Salmi

Born in 1966, Massimiliano (oboist) began studying music with the piano at the age of five. He graduated in oboe in 1985 from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi di Torino, studying under Omar Zoboli, with top marks and honors.

He later refined his training with Ingo Goritzki, Pierre Pierlot, Maurice Bourgue, and studied baroque oboe with Michel Piguet. In 1992 he obtained, with distinction, the Konzert Diplom in oboe and chamber music with Omar Zoboli and Witold Lutosławski at the Musik-Akademie der Stadt Basel in Switzerland.

He has performed with the Bamberger Symphoniker, the Orchestra of Teatro alla Scala, the Orchestra Mozart, the RAI Symphony Orchestra, the Teatro Regio Orchestra of Turin, the Teatro Massimo Orchestra of Palermo, the Sicilian Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, under conductors such as Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, George Prêtre, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Colin Davis, Semion Bychkov, Myung-whun Chung, Giuseppe Sinopoli, and Daniele Gatti.

His concert activity also includes performances as a soloist within chamber ensembles such as the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova, Kammerphilharmonie Graubünden, Ottetto Classico Italiano, and I Solisti Veneti, as well as in early and contemporary music groups, leading him to appear at major festivals throughout Europe, the United States, South America, China, Japan, and beyond. He has collaborated with figures such as Witold Lutosławski, Heinz Holliger, Giuliano Carmignola, and Alexander Lonquich.

Since 1996 he has been principal English horn of the Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

He has recorded for various record labels and for broadcasters including RAI, RSI (Swiss Radio), Radio France, and Radio Nacional de España. Composer Anton Ruiz-Pipo wrote Triga II for him (for solo oboe), published by Max Eschig.

Alongside his concert activity, he regularly teaches masterclasses in Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Asia, and elsewhere. Since 1991 he has been professor of oboe, English horn, and oboe pedagogy at the Conservatory of Music of the Swiss Italian Conservatory in Lugano.

He is the author of the treatise The Contemporary Oboe, published by Rugginenti.

Massimiliano will take part in Trame Sonore 2026 as a soloist and as a member of the Orchestra da Camera di Mantova.