Abstract
In this article I discuss the inauguration of the Sala São Paulo concert hall, the headquarters of OSESP, on July 9th 1999, the landmark event in the ‘restructuring’ of the orchestra, a process that started after the death of maestro Eleazar de Carvalho. The choice of the event’s date (July 9th) and of the name of the concert hall (Sala São Paulo) indicate the effort made to create an idea of ‘Paulista pride,’ in which the conflicts and contradictions of social experience were to be erased by the timeless and universal properties of classical music. Through an ethnographical reconstruction of the inauguration concert, I discuss how dissonant voices have found their way to be heard, revealing the contradictions of the orchestra’s project.
Keywords
Classical music; symphony orchestras; Osesp; Sala São Paulo; ethnography
