- 1 -
FERRARI AND MASERATI DELIVER THE SHOCK OF THE NEW
This week will see Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti conduct a unique concert called “The Shock of the New” and event sponsors, Ferrari and Maserati, have provided the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony with their own variation on the theme by conducting him around the Ferrari Superamerica and the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT.
Both cars are making their debut at the Australian International Motor Show, which opens its doors to the public on Friday 14 October, and the night before Australian and New Zealand owners of both legendary Italian car marques will attend a gala performance of the ‘Shock of the New’ concert at the Sydney Opera House.
The Ferrari Superamerica is the ultimate open top car, not just because of its V12 engine that delivers astounding performance and a 320 kmh top speed, but also because it’s unique roof offers the ability to literally turn down the intensity of the sun coming through its glass panel.
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT is a new range-topping version of Maserati’s outstanding performance saloon and the car on display has been built specifically for the Australian International Motor Show, arriving some eight months before Australian production is set to start.
For the ‘Shock of the New’ concert Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti has brought together excerpts from musical masterpieces that astounded audiences – even causing riots – when they were first performed and changed the course of musical history. Indeed, the juxtaposition of the music in the concert is designed in itself to reinforce the shock and surprise that music caused in its debut performance.
Shock of the New features almost twenty works by different composers with soloists, choirs and even a dancer. With no advance warning of the work the audience is about to hear, the performances will surprise and enlighten listeners.
Beethoven, Mozart, Stravinsky are among the many composers whose works caused a strong, sometimes shocking, reaction when first performed.
In a unique presentation with lighting and other effects, Maestro Gianluigi Gelmetti takes some of the best known works in the repertoire and realises the power and impact of their first performance. The audience will be able to hear what made audiences applaud and cheer in Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, a work which changed the course of musical history.
Hearing works out of their usual context enables the audience to leave behind familiarity and listen in a new way, hearing new sounds.
The concerts are on Thursday 13 and Saturday 15 October at 8pm in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall. Tickets are available from Sydney Symphony Customer Relations on 02 8215 4600 or sydneysymphony.com
Gianluigi Gelmetti
Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony
Gianluigi Gelmetti, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony, studied with Sergiu Celibidache, Franco Ferrara and Hans Swarowsky. For ten years he conducted the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra; he has conducted all the leading orchestras in the world and appears regularly at international festivals.
Highlights of recent seasons include engagements in France, Germany, Great Britain, America, Australia, Japan, Switzerland and Italy, where he conducted Mascagni’s Iris and Respighi’s La fiamma at the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome – he has been the Opera’s Chief Conductor since April 2000 – and William Tell at the Rossini Opera Festival. In 1999 he was awarded the Rossini d’Oro Prize. Gianluigi Gelmetti also works regularly at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
His interpretation of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro earned him the title Best Conductor of the Year from the German magazine Opernwelt, and in 1997 he won the Tokyo critics’ prize for the best performance of the year of Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. He has been honoured as Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettresin France and Grande Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana in Italy.
Gianluigi Gelmetti’s recording catalogue is extensive and includes operas by Salieri, Rossini, Puccini and Mozart, the complete orchestral music of Ravel, the late symphonies of Mozart and works by many 20th-century composers, including Stravinsky, Berg, Webern, Varèse and Rota. Among his latest recordings are William Tell, Iris, La fiamma, Bruckner’s Symphony No.6 and Rossini’s Stabat mater.
Gianluigi Gelmetti is also a composer; his recent works include In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli, written to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Franco Ferrara’s death, Algos, and Prasanta Atma, in memory of Sergiu Celibidache.
Since summer 1997 he has been teaching at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena.
(ends)
Picture Captions:
(1)Bridgette Barrett conducts Gianluigi Gelmetti, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony, on a personal tour of the Ferrari Superamerica prior to their premiere performance at the Australian International Motor Show on Friday 14 October.
(2)Gianluigi Gelmetti, Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Sydney Symphony with the Ferrari Superamerica and the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT.
For further information, please contact
Kevin Wall
/ Tel: +61 2 9701 8000General Manager / Fax: +61 2 9701 3555
Ferrari Australia and New Zealand / E:
Edward Butler
/ Tel: +61 2 9701 8000General Manager / Fax: +61 2 9701 3555
Maserati Australia and New Zealand / E:
Amy King
/ Tel: +61 2 8215 4612Publicist
/ Mob: + 61 411 153712Sydney Symphony
/ E:Edward Rowe
/ Tel: +61 2 9701 8000Public Relations Manager / Fax: +61 2 9701 3555
Ferrari and Maserati Australia and New Zealand / Mob: +61 407 913 244
E:
Ferrari and Maserati Media web site:
Australia:
New Zealand: