Maximilien Seren-Piccinni, director, president of the Niccolò Piccinni Fund and artistic director of the Garda Festival, was born in Verona to a family with deep ties to the history of music. He is a descendent, on his mother’s side, to the famous Italian composer and maestro of opera buffa Niccolò Piccinni.

He was educated at the Department of Acting, Directing and Applied Theatre of the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, where he obtained the Regie Diplom (Directing Degree) in 2014. In 2019 he obtained a Master’s Degree in Opera Direction at the National Arts Centre of High Specialisation for Musical and Choreutic Theatre (Polo Nazionale Artistico) of Verona. He then attended several Master’s courses in Direction held by renowned professionals in the field, including Emilio Sagi, Paul Curran, Stephen Medcalf, Lorenzo Mariani, Jacopo Spirei and Andrea Chiodi. Franco Zeffirelli also played a part in his artistic development, guiding him during the director’s famous opera productions at the Verona Arena.

In 2008, he was employed as assistant to actress and playwright Franca Valeri for the 65th Venice International Film Festival, a position he also held the following year for director Mario Monicelli, later becoming his personal assistant. This experience allowed him to take his first steps into the world of cinema as an associate on audiovisual projects, including the short film Vicino al Colosseo… c’è Monti in 2008.

Since July 2010, and in subsequent years, Maximilien Seren-Piccinni has worked as a director in France, directing plays such as Shakespeare’s Much ado about Nothing, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Othello, as well as Molière’s The Miser at the Festival de Ramatuelle, where he distinguished himself as one of the festival’s youngest directors.

In 2016 he was assistant set designer for Verdi’s Nabucco at the Verona Arena and the following year he was assistant director at the Salzburger Festspiele working on Verdi’s Aida directed by Shirin Neshat and with Riccardo Muti as music director. In addition, as part of the Salzburg Festival, he worked as production assistant for Verdi’s I due Foscari with Plácido Domingo and for the Young Singers Project under Eva Maria Wieser.

He collaborated on the revival of Sylvano Bussotti’s historic production of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples in 2018, and the following year he was chosen by Pier Luigi Pizzi as assistant director at the Festival della Valle d’Itria in Martina Franca for Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto (The Secret Marriage) and Manfroce’s Ecuba. In 2022, he made his debut as an opera director in Verdi’s Traviata at the Flaiano Theatre in Rome.

Appointed President of the Niccolò Piccinni Fund in 2018, he launched a rich programme of celebratory initiatives to honour the composer’s legacy, helping to keep his musical and cultural heritage alive. In 2022, after a 20-year hiatus, he decided to revive and bring back to Italy the prestigious Piccinni Prize, a historic award recognising excellence in the performing arts. Within this context, he also worked with renowned actress and Fellini muse Sandra Milo to produce Sandra Milo – Album di una Diva, a documentary-interview celebrating her film and television career.

In 2023, he spearheaded the creation of the Garda Festival, organised by the Niccolò Piccinni Fund on the shores of Lake Garda. This summer cultural event celebrates great opera, symphony and chamber music, offering a repertoire that ranges from Baroque to contemporary, as well as showcasing the art of dance in all its forms – from classical ballet to contemporary dance. As part of the Garda Festival, he initiated a collaboration with the Accademia del Cinema Italiano – Premi David di Donatello, establishing an annual concert dedicated to celebrating film music and soundtracks from Italian cinema.