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 HISTORY OF THE CULTURA ARTÍSTICA THEATRE
For many years, precisely
since 1919, Cultura Artística nurtured a great dream:
to have its own theatre, its own home.
It was only made possible by the end of the 1940s. The construction
of the theatre, between the years 1947 ans 1950, was a period
of enormous enthusiasm. The building was projected by Rino
Levi (one of the leading Brazilian architects), Roberto Cerqueira
César and Fa Pestalozzi.
The opening was held on two nights, March
8th and 9th, 1950, and headed by two of the biggest Brazilian
conductors and composers. Heitor Villa-Lobos and Camargo Guarnieri
carefully prepared the concerts, which were also the opening
events of that year's season, conducting the São Paulo
Symphonic Orchestra one at a time while presenting their own
musical creations. At that time there were already 2500 subscribers
to the season and even the biggest concert hall could not
accomodate all of them in one night. It was then that the
tradition of holding more than one concert by the same artist
was created by Cultura Artística. As the years went
by, the growing number of subscribers led the Society to open
a third series of concerts.
The theatre is divided into two
superposed concert halls, the first one named Esther Mesquita,
with 1156 seats, and the second one named Rubens Sverner,
with 339 seats. This smallest room is also known as «
Culturinha », which means « little Cultura ».
Both have air conditioning and access for handicapped persons.
The beautiful façade
of the Cultura Artística Theatre is decorated by the
biggest known fresco of the Brazilian artist Di Cavalcanti.
Made of glass mosaic, it is 48 metres wide and 8 metres high.
It was specially ordered and also unveiled on March 8th, 1950.
On the top of the musical
nights, the theatre started holding and still holds theatrical
events of the best national and international companies.
Always on demand –
even after the opening of a great number of new theatre rooms
in the city of São Paulo –, Cultura Artística
has long been holding many important national or regional
premières.
Among leading
national actors who have acted in Cultura Artística,
are the following: Jaime Costa, Paulo Autran, Tonia Carrero,
Cacilda Becker, Jardel Filho, Sérgio Cardoso, Procópio,
Bibi Ferreira, Walmor Chagas, Odete Lara, Dercy Gonçalves,
Irina Greco, Odete Lara, Armando Bogus, Maria Della Costa,
Antonio Fagundes, Marco Nanini, Fernanda Montenegro, Marília
Pera, Karin Rodrigues, Ney Latorraca, Juliana Carneiro da
Cunha, Aracy Balabanian, Jô Soares, Eva Wilma, Carlos
Zara, Beatriz Segall, Juca de Oliveira, Denise Fraga, Marieta
Severo, Regina Duarte, Debora Bloch, Ary Fontoura, Andrea
Beltrão, Denise Stoklos, Renata Sorrah, Diogo Vilela,
Fernanda Torres. And the list could continue.
Among the international
groups and companies we could mention: Piccolo Teatro
di Milano, Josephine Baker, the French mime Marcel Marceau,
Comédie Française, Mummenschanz, Teatro Popolare
di Roma, the Japanese groups Kabuki Theatre ; Bunraku Puppet
Theatre, and Kodo Tambours, among many others.
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