HISTORY OF SOCIEDADE DE CULTURA ARTÍSTICA In 1912, at the peak of São Paulo's first industrialization period, an eclectic group of art lovers – poets, journalists, musicians, lawyers, professors, engineers, traders, businessmen – founded a society to support the city's cultural development, with the promotion of evenings of music and literature. In the beginning, there was a predominance of the best writers and intellectuals of the time: Afonso Arinos, Alfredo Pujol (whose cycle of conferences on the Brazilian writer Machado de Assis, later complied in a book, has become required reading to every study on the subject), Graça Aranha, Olavo Bilac, Martins Fontes, Coelho Neto, Armando Prado, Amadeu Amaral, Oliveira Lima and many others. Later on, music took center stage. Concerning Brazilian musicians, or those living here, a simple recollecting would point to Antonieta Rudge, Guiomar Novais, Magda Tagliaferro, Souza Lima, Arnaldo Estrela, Villa Lobos, Mignone, Guarnieri, Braga, Oswald, Lorenzo Fernandes, Mehlich, Vera Janacopoulos, Bidú Sayão, Eleazar de Carvalho, Fritz Jank, Franceschini, Cantú, Chiafarelli and many other artists. The limits of this brief text, however, don’t allow for even a much abbreviated list. There are hundreds of names. Professors, performers of all kinds, conductors, composers, orchestras, chamber groups, vocal ensembles – virtually every signifficant name for music in Brazil has been through Cultura. In order to improve the lacking local scene of the time, the Society has also acted in the area of spoken theatre. Many were the companies, both national and foreign, that have here performed their plays as an incentive of Cultura. It is also worth recalling the support given to the pioneer initiatives of Alfredo Mesquita (as a theatrical author, director and chief of the Group of Experimental Theatre) and Décio de Almeida Prado (director responsible for the Universitarian Theatre Group). The work of these two men of the theatre formed the origins of the movement that would later come to fruition as the TBC and São Paulo's theatre scene in general. To the Brazilian artists were added the great figures of international music. And São Paulo began to be regularly included on the route of the great foreign interpreters, as well as the nationals living abroad. At this point we cannot escape a brief list, even if it is reduced to a few prominent names, to avoid a tiring enumeration. So for instance: PIANO – Arthur Rubinstein, Alexandre Brailowsky, Robert Casadesus, Claudio Arrau, Alfred Cortot, Wilhelm Backaus, Rudolf Firkusny, Wilhelm Kempf, Friedrich Gulda, Alicia de Larrocha, Lili Kraus, Badura Skoda, Byron Janis, Aldo Ciccolini, Marguerite Long, João Carlos Martins, M. Horszowsky, Gyorgy Cziffra, Fou Ts’Ong, Vladimir Ashkenasy, Ingrid Habler, Martha Argerich, Lazar Berman, Katia e Marielle Labèque, Nelson Freire, Caio Pagano, Yara Bernette, Jean Louis Steuerman, Ivo Pogorelich, Radu Lupu, Daniel Barenboim, Dezsö Ranki, Gianluca Cascioli, Stanislav Bunin, José Feghali, Nikolai Lugansky, Christian Zacharias, Menahem Pressler, Maria João Pires, Ricardo Castro, Arcadi Volodos, Elisso Virsaladze, Mzia Bakthourize, Jorge Federico Osorio, Elisabeth Leonskaya,Piotr Anderszewski, Kathryn Stott. Many of this pianists have participated in various seasons; Claudio Arrau has taken part in 17 recitals, for exemple. HARPSICHORD – William Christie, Christopher Hogwood, Gustav Leonhardt, Trevor Pinnock. CLARINET – Michael Collins. ORGAN – Karl Richter. GUITAR – Andrés Segóvia, Narciso Yepes, the Assad brothers. FLUTE – Aurèle Nicolet, Jean Pierre Rampal, Giovanni Antonini, Mathieu Dufour. TRUMPET – Maurice André, Wynton Marsalis. OBOE – Heinz Holliger. VIOLIN AND VIOLA – Heifetz, Thibaud, Szigeti, Milstein, Menuhin, Szering, Ginete Neveu, Pinchas Zukerman, Isaac Stern, Felix Ayo, Shlomo Mintz, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Midori, Maxim Vengerov, Pavel Kogan, Janos Rolla, Uto Ughi, Christian Ferras, Victor Tretiakov, Vladimir Spivakov, Yuri Bashmet, Vadim Repin, Fabio Biondi, Thomas Zehetmair, Gidon Kremer, Reka Szilvay, Joji Hattori, Leonidas Kavakos, Jan Willem de Vriend, Giuliano Carmignola. CELLO – Pierre Fournier, Rostropovich, Leonard Rose, Paul Tortellier, Antonio Janigro, Antonio Meneses, Pergamenshikov, Steven Isserlis, Yo-Yo Ma, Jan Erik Gustafson. CHAMBER MUSIC – London String Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Léner String Quartet (the record detainer of chamber music presentations, with 19 concerts), Quartetto Italiano, Juilliard String Quartet, Medici String Quartet, Amadeus Quartet, Beaux Arts Trio, Stern-Istomin-Rose Trio, Beethoven Quartet, Borodin Quartet, Melos Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Vermeer String Quartet, Takács Quartet, Alban Berg Quartet, Hagen Quartett, Trio di Milano, Accentus Chamber Choir, conductorLaurence Equilbey, Jacques Loussier Trio. CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS – Zagreb Soloists, I Musici, The Moscow Soloists, Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, English Chamber Orchestra, I Solisti Veneti, Munich Bach Orchestra, Prague Chamber Orchestra, Moscow Chamber Orchestra, Academy of Ancient Music, Salzburg Mozarteum Camerata Academica, Warsaw Symphony Orchestra, La Petite Bande, Les Arts Florissants, Ensemble InterContemporain, Les Percussions de Strasbourg, The English Concert, Europa Galante, Il Giardino Armonico, Camerata Bern, Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, Kremerata Baltica, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, 18th Century Concert Orchestra, Ensemble TM+, Camerata Strumentale Città di Prato, L'Archibudelli, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Festival Strings Lucerne, Cappella della Pietà de´Turchini, Concerto Italiano, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester - Philippe Jordan, La Capilla Real de Madrid - Oscar Gershensohn, Britten Sinfonia. SYMPHONY AND PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRAS – Hallé Orchestra, conductor Sir John Barbirolli; Concertgebow Orchestra, conductor Bernard Haitink; Gewandhaus Orchestra, conductor Kurt Masur; L'Orchestre de Paris, conductor Daniel Barenboim; Cleveland Orchestra, conductor Lorin Maazel; Leningrad Symphony Orchestra, conductor Alexander Dmitriev; Moscow Symphony Orchestra, conductor Yevgeny Svetlanov; St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Yuri Temirkanov; Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Wolfgang Sawallish; Staatskapelle Dresden, conductor Sir Colin Davis; City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conductor Simon Rattle; New York Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Kurt Masur; Boston Symphony Orchestra, conductor Seiji Ozawa; Montreal Symphony Orchestra, conductor Charles Dutoit; Ensemble InterContemporain, conductors Pierre Boulez and David Robertson; Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Paavo Järvi; Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Lorin Maazel; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conductor Daniel Barenboim; Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, conductor Helmuth Rilling; Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Zubin Mehta; Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos; Milan Symphony Orchestra Giuseppe Verdi, conductor Oleg Caetani; Budapest Festival Orchestra, conductor Ivan Fischer; Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Leif Segerstam; BBC Symphony Orchestra, conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste; BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conductor Ilan Volkov; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Gerd Albrecht; Youth Orchestra of the Americas, conductor Kent Nagano; Mainz Bach Choir and Rheinland-Pfalz State Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Ralf Otto; Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Galicia, conductor Antoni Ros Marbá; Les Musiciens du Louvre, conductor Marc Minkowski, Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. JAZZ ORCHESTRA – Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, conductor Wynton Marsalis. DANCE – Diaghilev’s Russian Ballet with Ernest Ansermet conducting the orchestra, Léonide Massine Company, Anna Pavlova's Ballet, Nikolais Dance Theatre, Jennifer Muller and The Works, Twyla Tharp Dance, Maguy Marin, Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, The Hamburg Ballet. SINGERS – Gigli, Ninon Vallin, Elza Respighi, Madeleine Grey, Elisabeth Schumann, Marian Anderson, Frederick Fuller, Jennie Tourel, Dorothy Maynor, Lawrence Winters, Louise Parker, Gérard Sousay, Josephine Baker, Charles Trenet, Edith Piaff, Alfred Deller, Elly Ameling, Kiri Te Kanawa, Montserrat Figueras, Kathleen Battle, Cecilia Bartoli, Lynne Dawson, Matthias Goerne, Ute Lemper, Hanna Schigula, Jennifer Larmore, Emma Kirkby, Daniel Taylor, Nathalie Stutzmann, Sylvia Vadimova, Michael Chance, Barbara Hannigan, Marina Pardo, Ramón Vargas, Thomas Hampson. OPERA – Tristan and Isolde, by Lohengrin; Twilight of the Gods, by Wagner; Samson and Dalila, by Saint-Säens: Electra, by Richard Strauss; Damnation of Faust, by Berlioz; Orpheus, by Gluck; Carmen, by Bizet; The Prodigal Son, by Debussy. As we have previosuly said, the above mentions are only an exemple. Nothing can better express the importance of Cultura Artística than this comment by Mario de Andrade: "What determines, mainly, the prime merit and the magnificent usefulness of the Sociedade de Cultura Artistica is the musical quality it imposes on São Paulo, raising itself as the first in the presentation of the great virtuosos and musical groups of world renown. And if it is not possible to contest that São Paulo's musical life can still maintain itself on a very honored high position, it is in no small part due to the example and actions of the Sociedade de Cultura Artística ."