Gianluigi Gelmetti

Gianluigi Gelmetti was born in Rome and made his conducting debut at age sixteen with the orchestra of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He studied conducting at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena under Franco Ferrara and in Vienna under Hans Swarowsky, becoming a close protégé of Sergiu Celibidache. In 1967, he won the prestigious Gino Marinuzzi conducting competition.

Gelmetti held principal conducting directorships across the world, including the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra (1989–1998), the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (2000–2008), the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (2004–2008), and the Monte-Carlo Philharmonic Orchestra (2012–2016). Renowned for his incandescent interpretations of Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Maurice Ravel, he recorded benchmark performances at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and directed staging for his own opera productions.