/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Symphony Rides the Rails of Fame

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 8 2002 (IPS) - The Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo is beginning to establish itself as an international hub for classical music, especially with the construction of a symphony hall – considered one of the world’s best – in a former railway station.

One example of its repercussions is the month-long tour that the Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra (OSESP) will begin on Oct 24, performing 22 concerts in 20 U.S. cities, from New York and Washington in the East, to Los Angeles in the west.

The invitation from U.S. cultural promoters is seen as an indication of the high quality achieved by the orchestra, thanks mostly to the deep reforms it has undergone since 1997, driven by the new director and head of the Sao Paulo Concert Hall, John Neschling.

The initial changes were drastic, Neschling, a Brazilian who had experience directing such organisations in France, Italy and Switzerland, replaced half of the musicians after subjecting the entire orchestra to a series of evaluations, tripled the musicians’ salaries and demanded a headquarters appropriate for a great symphony, rejecting three other theatres on the way.

The solution was to build the Sao Paulo Concert Hall, which was a decisive leg-up for the OSESP, and provides the city with a venue that, according to the state’s former secretary of Culture, Marcos Mendonia, can be compared to the Boston Symphony Hall, Vienna’s Musikvereinssaal, or the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

To build the Hall, ingenious use was made of the Julio Prestes Train Station, the former administrative headquarters and departure point of the Sorocabana Railway.

The construction of the auditorium was part of the rehabilitation of the enormous building, which dates back to 1928-1936. Built in the style of "modernised Luis XVI", according to the project’s architect, Christiano Stockler das Neves, combining "French taste with U.S. comfort," and classic sombre lines.

The transformation of the train station into a cultural centre had been incorporated into the revitalisation plans for the Campos Eliseos neighbourhood, located near downtown Sao Paulo, and deteriorating under the pressures of street trade, prostitution and the concentration of marginalized population.

The Sao Paulo Concert Hall obtained volume with the space that was the historic building’s interior garden. In other words, the exterior walls became internal walls, with their tall columns exposed and separating the upper balconies.

The specifics and details of the building comply with the most rigid of standards. After a year and a half of construction, it was inaugurated in 1999, winning applause since then for its architectural beauty and an acoustics system that puts it heads above other theatres.

The sound "is much better than that of New York’s Lincoln Centre," says Marcelo Costa, an economist who lived in the U.S. city in the 1990s, but is now enthralled with the concerts at what he says is the soon-to-be-famous local concert venue.

Santos said he was disappointed when he returned to the Lincoln Centre during a New York visit this year, as he has grown accustomed to the excellent acoustics of the Sao Paulo Concert Hall, and its capacity for an audience of 1,509.

The acoustic quality is due to the fact that the interior construction of the hall has movable pieces that can be adjusted to modify the space and the sound-reflecting surfaces to enhance each type of music and instrumentation of any concert performance.

The Sao Paulo Concert Hall is the first with a completely movable stage, says engineer Ismael Sol, chief of the revitalisation project at the Julio Prestes train station.

The adopted solution reconciles "acoustic flexibility" with the visibility of the Hall’s architectural richness, explained Nelson Dupré, the architect in charge of adapting the station’s plaza for symphonic use.

To achieve this, he had the help of Artec, a U.S.-based acoustic consulting company, which has played a role in the construction of many of the world’s best musical venues. The work is completed with the construction of a 600-car parking ramp.

The excellence of the Sao Paulo Concert Hall has been proven by the performances of internationally renowned orchestras, such as the symphonies from Vienna, Chicago, New York and St. Petersburg, with an average of one such concert per month, says Viviana Morilla, OSESP’s communications chief.

Further proof is in the level of attendance, with total audiences last year of 180,000 people for the local orchestra’s performances, every Thursday and Saturday, and the OSESP Children’s Choir.

The annual subscription system has been adopted for providing tickets to the symphony concerts, a pioneering effort in the Brazilian cultural scene. Sixty percent of the seats have been sold through this method for shows through 2003.

/ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-BRAZIL: Sao Paulo Symphony Rides the Rails of Fame

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 8 2002 (IPS) - The Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo is beginning to establish itself as an international hub for classical music, especially with the construction of a symphony hall — considered one of the world’s best — in a former railway station.
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