Riccardo Cellacchi

Riccardo Cellacchi, born in Rome in 1999, won the Premio Abbado in 2015. Within just three years, he received numerous awards, including first prizes in all three categories of the Severino Gazzelloni International Flute Competition(which also included a scholarship), first prize at the E. Krakamp Flute Competition, and first prize at the 15th Riviera Etrusca National Competition.

He grew up in a family of musicians and began playing the flute at the age of eight. At twelve, he enrolled at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. At fifteen, he graduated with distinction from the Ottorino Respighi Conservatory in Latina and is currently completing his master’s degree at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, studying in the class of Prof. Andrea Lieberknecht.

In 2017, he was an intern with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, performing under renowned conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Christian Thielemann, Kent Nagano, François-Xavier Roth, Daniel Harding, Herbert Blomstedt, Alan Gilbert, Susanna Mälkki, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He appeared in major venues including the Gasteig and Herkulessaal in Munich, Paris, the Vienna Musikverein, the Royal Albert Hall in London, and the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg. Since 2019, he has been principal flutist of the Bern Symphony Orchestra.

Photo1 © Caspar Martig