Gianluigi Gelmetti, became chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney (Australia) Symphony Orchestra on February 25. He then enjoyed three sell-out Verdi Requiem concerts, strong ticket sales for other shows, a largely welcoming buzz about his appointment, and an embarrassing warmth shown by the people.

Gelmetti's personal agenda is Music first, Culture second, Food and Wine third.

The SSO was been quick to promote Gelmetti using the whole "la dolce vita" theme, highlighting his connections with food, wine, music and culture as an effective way to introduce their new man to the city, as well as help the orchestra itself engage more intensely with the wider community.

Gelmetti - the rotund bon vivant is a marketing dream to the SSO. It is fascinating to watch the savvy way Gelmetti's Italian cultural heritage is being used as a marketing tool.

Gelmetti plys homemade pasta recipes at a fundraising dinner, attends the opening of an inner-west furniture store.  Traditional post-show goodie bags contain items in celebration of Gelmetti's Italian heritage.

In a clever tie-in of culture and business, Italian pasta sauces and pasta, alcohol, coffee and an Italian culture magazine were included in giveways at the lavish gala party for the Verdi Requiem concert on February 25 at the Opera House. The Italian Chamber of Commerce was the party's sponsor.

The Italian culture connection will be highlighted again later this month when guests will share Gelmetti's "other great passion in life - food" at the annual SSO fundraising dinner at the Park Hyatt. At the $550 per head event, the conductor will present some of his favourite Italian dishes, including his specially created Pasta Gelmetti.

Then there is Gelmetti's presence today at the Space Furniture's new showroom in Alexandria, which is hosting an exhibition of Murano glass and an Italian design retrospective as part of the Italian Design Week, which kicks off today.

His concerts this month are also being featured as part of a cultural program organised in conjunction with the Italian Institute of Culture to celebrate the inaugural Life in I Style Italian cultural festival this month.

To a small source of disquiet about the heavily Italian-themed season, Gelmetti hints at  the tyranny of stereotypes. "If you're French, no problem. If you're American, no problem. If you're Italian - mafiosi!" he bluntly responds.

Bravo Maestro Gelmetti !!!!! You are MY kind of Italian !!!!

Besides, Italy is the Greatest source of European Culture. There Is NO avoiding it!!!
========================================
THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

Sydney Morning Herald
May 12, 2004

In excitable, fractured sentences, Gianluigi Gelmetti is talking about about his new "baby". Tomorrow, he will take audiences through a series of classical works in a new concert program that he is feeling "excited and afraid" about.

He stops talking only to think about how to illustrate how revolutionary, indeed almost shocking, some classical pieces sounded to audiences when they were first performed. Then, eyes dancing, he hits on an analogy. "It's like the split on a skirt, yes?" says the genial, bear-like conductor. "Twenty years ago, shocking to me. Now, fantastico!"

The chief conductor and artistic director of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra is an expansive mood as he sits down to a post-prandial coffee and a plate of ginger snaps. With him is the company's artistic administrator and Gelmetti's de facto translator, Francesco Bottone - an almost comical contrast to the conductor with his quiet reserve and small frame.

Since Gelmetti's conducting season began on February 25, there's been much to be pleased about - the generally positive critical reaction, the three sell-out Verdi Requiem concerts, the strong ticket sales for other shows, and the largely welcoming buzz surrounding his appointment. "I'm embarrassed about the warmth of the people," he says. "When I'm on the street, they come up to me. Sydney is very near to me. For this reason, I can feel myself in this city."

The city, by all measures, has taken to its new conductor, drawn by Gelmetti's larger-than-life, charismatic showman's image. His persona is a stark contrast to that of his predecessor, the reserved, introverted Edo de Waart. The SSO has been quick to promote Gelmetti using the whole "la dolce vita" theme, highlighting his connections with food, wine, music and culture as an effective way to introduce their new man to the city, as well as help the orchestra itself engage more intensely with the wider community.

He is a marketing dream - the rotund bon vivant come to take the SSO to a new stage - but it must be said that the SSO and Gelmetti do not want this image to dominate. "Food and wine, they are third place. Music is first," he says.

Still, it is fascinating to watch the savvy way Gelmetti's cultural heritage is being used as marketing tool. It is difficult to imagine de Waart plying homemade pasta recipes at a fundraising dinner, for example, or attending the opening of an inner-west furniture store. These are all things Gelmetti will do this month. It is difficult, too, to imagine miniature windmills and bottles of Dutch beer being given away in the traditional post-show goodie bags in celebration of de Waart's Dutch heritage.

But in a clever tie-in of culture and business, Italian pasta sauces and pasta, alcohol, coffee and an Italian culture magazine were included in giveways at the lavish gala party for the Verdi Requiem concert on February 25 at the Opera House. The Italian Chamber of Commerce was the party's sponsor.

The European culture connection will be highlighted again later this month when guests will share Gelmetti's "other great passion in life - food" at the annual SSO fundraising dinner at the Park Hyatt. At the $550 per head event, the conductor will present some of his favourite Italian dishes, including his specially created Pasta Gelmetti.

Then there is Gelmetti's presence today at the Space Furniture's new showroom in Alexandria, which is hosting an exhibition of Murano glass and an Italian design retrospective as part of the Italian Design Week, which kicks off today. His concerts this month are also being featured as part of a cultural program organised in conjunction with the Italian Institute of Culture to celebrate the inaugural Life in I Style Italian cultural festival this month.

The SSO's director of marketing development, Victoria Doidge, says all these activities are about highlighting Gelmetti's natural affinities with the things the public also find amenable. It is easy to do as Gelmetti is so naturally gregarious. It also dovetails with a new marketing push to have the SSO more actively engaged and involved with Sydney, Doidge says. Gelmetti's presence is just helping things along.

The SSO has long had an active multicultural marketing focus, so it was natural, too, to get the Italian connections as a way to increase Italian-speaking audiences for the SSO and access high-level networking opportunities, she says. There is nothing controversial about building these ties with Italian businesses, or marketing Gelmetti's cultural heritage and epicurean tastes. What has, however, been a small source of disquiet in some quarters of the classical music world is the make-up of the 2004 season. It has been a heavily Italian-themed affair, featuring a slate of soloists and musicians from Gelmetti's native country.

The Verdi Requiem in February featured 70 members of the Chorus of the Rome Opera, as well as the tenor Massimo Giordano, the mezzo-soprano Daniela Barcellona and the soprano Carla Maria Izzo. In early March, the Italian connection continued when Gelmetti conducted countryman pianist Michele Campanella in a performance of works by Lizst and Brahms. Then came Gelmetti's Rossini program, also in March, where Gelmetti conducted Barcellona again in a series of Rossini classics.

This month, Gelmetti's countrymen will again feature. The acclaimed violinist Salvatore Accardo and cellist Mario Brunello will feature in Gelmetti's Beethoven-Triumphant concerts, while Accardo will also play Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky in a separate concert series this month.

Is Gelmetti being a little too indulgent? Is the program a trifle unbalanced? Gossip has also centred on the appointment of Bottone, formerly of the Rome Opera Theatre, as artistic administrator this year, replacing the long-serving Tim Calnin, and cementing the Italian presence at the top levels of management.

Gelmetti's face darkens when the topic is raised. While at times "very offended" by some of the pettier aspects of the gossip, Gelmetti says he is mostly unmoved by the criticism. So what if there was an Italian slant to the first half of his 2004 program, he says? It was all good music, not just Italian music. There are also many non-Italian works in the rest of this year. He hints at the tyranny of stereotypes. "If you're French, no problem. If you're American, no problem. If you're Italian - mafiosi!" he says bluntly.

He says that many decisions shaping the 2004 program were made before he arrived. Nevertheless, he is aware the Italian theme has ruffled some feathers. "People talk about this - yes, there is a lot of Italian this year. But next year - no Italian, except me."

The Italian connection - Arts - www.smh.com.au
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/11/1084041409382.html