Gianluigi Gelmetti

Conductor and composer Gianluigi Gelmetti OMRI was born on September 11, 1945, in Rome, Italy. During his career, he has been appointed to lead several orchestras and has dedicated several recordings to Rossini's work, including operas. Gianluigi Gelmetti began at the age of 16 when Romania’s Sergiu Celibidache let him conduct an orchestra. Gianluigi Gelmetti then began studying under Celibidache as well as studying with Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarowsky. In 1967, he began composing early electronic music with Antonio Ricardo Luciani and recorded several experimental albums including the Caleidoscopio series (Volumes 1-4) in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He conducted the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the national orchestras of Milan, Rome and Turin for Puccini's La Rondine (1982), Donizetti's Requiem (1985) and Rossini's La Gazza Ladra (1990). Gianluigi Gelmetti was appointed as the musical director of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (1989-1998). He successively took the helm of the Rome Opera Orchestra (2000-2009) and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (2004-2008). A regular guest at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Gianluigi Gelmetti not only recorded operas by the composer such as The Barber of Seville (1993) and Maometto II (1994), he also focused on lesser-known works such as the Stabat Mater (1992). He received the Rossini d'Oro Prize for his interpretation of the complete French version of the opera Guillaume Tell. Twice appointed musical director of the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (1990-1992, 2012-2016), the naturalized Monegasque resident subsequently became its honorary conductor. Further recordings by Gianluigi Gelmetti include Rossini: La Gazza Ladra (1990), Rossini: Overtures (1992), Rota: Film Music (1992) and a collaboration with Léo Ferré and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra on La Symphonie Interrompue / La Chanson du Mal-Aimé (2013). He subsequently taught conducting at the Chigiana Musical Academy in Siena and at the National Academy of St. Cecilia in Rome. During his illustrious career, he was appointed Order of the Arts and the Letters in France, Commander of the Order of Cultural Merit in Monaco, and Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI). Gianluigi Gelmetti died on August 11, 2021, at the age of 75.

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