Teatro Municipal

Category: Entertainment

São Paulo's cultural life entered a new period with the opening, on September 12, 1911, of Teatro Municipal, whose first attraction was the opera "Hamlet", by Ambrósio Thomas. The firm Francisco Ramos de Azevedo was responsible for building its facilities, which were designed by the Italian architects Cláudio Rossi and Domiziano Rossi.

The project took nine years to be completed, and the team responsible for it got in contact with companies from all over the world, making use of an endless number of decorative elements which today are still part of the theater's architecture.

The theater has already been home to several artists: Caruso, Calllas, Ruffo, Shifa, Bidu Saião, Olenewa, Nijinski, Toscanini, Alonso, Pavlowa, Rubisntein, Gigli, Guiomar Novaes, Duncan, Tagliaferro, Fonteyn, in addition to the organizers of Semana de Arte Moderna (Modern Art Week), in 1922. In 1951, Teatro Municipal went through a radical modernization coordinated by the architect Tito Raucht: he built new floors in the areas previously occupied by the dressing rooms - now it has 11 dressing rooms - and the remaining area was transformed into balconies.
http://www.saopaulo.sp.gov.br/ingles/saopaulo/cultura/teatro_munic.htm