Now celebrating its 17th year, the Marina Piccinini International Masterclasses (MPIMC) were founded in 2008 as an extension of the Piccinini flute masterclasses that were held in the baroque Muraltengut Mansion on the edge of the Zurich Lake in Switzerland from 1996 until the foundation ceased in 2006.

From its inception until 2016, the week-long sessions were held in Griswold Hall at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, with students and faculty alike housed within the gated community in the historic Mount Vernon district of Baltimore. .

In 2017, MPIMC began a new partnership with the New World Symphony, housing the classes in Frank Gehry’s glamorous New World Center in Miami Beach. 

In 2020 and 2021, during the height of the Corona-virus pandemic and lockdown, MPIMC led the way and adapted the classes to an entirely online platform, reaching flutists and enthusiasts around the entire world. This enterprise was so successful that a second, Asian class was held online in November 2020. In 2021, as the pandemic was still affecting international travel, MPIMC continued its online presence with a special Paganini Caprices installment streamed from Venice, Italy. 

In 2022 the world began to edge its way slowly back to in-person events, and so MPIMC made yet another iconic shift, hosting for the first time classes on the secluded grounds of of Potash Hill in southern Vermont, newly purchased by the Marlboro Festival where Marina has had a long and ongoing musical and personal conncetion, and historically dated back to the Marcel mouse masterclasses.

As of 2024, a new chapter began for MPIMC in its nomadic history, in Bürglen, Uri, Switzerland- the magical and mythical birthplace of William Tell, and the setting for Zauberklang.

Throughout the years, MPIMC has been at the forefront of creating and expanding opportunities for its participants. In 2021 a collaboration with the Farnborough Symphony in the UK was forged, resulting in the MPIMC Concerto Competition. The 2021 winner, Christian Paquette, performed the Reinecke concerto with the orchestra, and last year’s winner, Freddy Branson, will perform the Carmichael Phoenix concerto with them in November 2025.

Apart from the MIA (most Improved award) we also implemented the MPIMC and Galway Awards, a collaborative exchange with the Galway Academy in Switzerland.

MPIMC has been fortunate to receive support from many fellow artists, flutemakers and individuals throughout the years, both in financial and artistic terms. In 2025 the Eric Maul Memorial Scholarship Fund was etsablished as a special means to support young deserving flutists in attending the masterclass intensive.

Guest artists have included performers, teachers, lecturers, judges, interviewees, and people from the private sector, including Hilary Hahn, Marin Alsop, Claire Chase, Jeanne Baxtresser, James Walker, Meng Su, Svet Stoyanov, Jennifer Grimm, Laurie Sokoloff, Brook Ferguson and Kristin Bacchiocchi-Stewart. The flutemakers that have been part of the class over the years include the Haynes flute Company, Brannen Brothers, Powell, Burkhart, Keefe Piccolos, Levitt Flutes, Williams Flutes, Gemeinhardt, the Flute Center of New York and Flutistry Boston.