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NATIONAL THEATER OF SÃO CARLOS CHOIR
Created effectively in 1943 under the management of Mario Pellegrini, the Choir fulfills an intensive phase of assimilation of the great operatic and oractory repertoire. Between 1962 and 1975 it collaborates in the seasons of the Portuguese Company Opera based at Trindade Theater, going with them to Madeira, Azores, Angola and Oviedo (1965), invited by Campoamor Theater and wining the Prize of Classical Music given by Casa da Imprensa. It participates in worldwide portuguese authors premiers like Fernando Lopes Graça (D. Duardos e Flérida) and António Victorino d'Almeida (Canto da Ocidental Praia). In 1980 the fisrt coral core is created full-time, beeing the Choir professionalization consummate in 1983 under the direction of Antonio Brainovitch.
The full artistic statement of the group will be credited to Gianni Beltrami that takes direction in 1985 and benefits of working conditions unprecedent in Portugal. In this phase the following interventions are noted: Oedipus Rex (Stravinski); The Rise and Fall of the Mahagonny City (Weill); Kiú (De Pablo); L'Enfant et les Sortilèges (Ravel); and Dido and Aeneas (Purcell). Note the participation in Grande Messe des Morts (Berlioz), at Turim, invited by RAI. After the death of Gianni Beltrami, João Paulo Santos takes its direction, beeing the first portuguese in the job in all São Carlos Theater history. Under his responsability such successes as Mefistofele (Boito); Blimunda e Divara (Corghi); Symphony nbr 2 (Mahler), with the Youth Orchestra of the Europeean Communities; Die Schöpfung (Haydn); Faust and Requiem (Schnittke); Perséphone and Le Rossignol (Stravinski); Evgeni Onegin (Tchaikovski); Les Troyens (Berlioz); Missa Glagolítica (Janácek); Tannhäuser and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Wagner); and Le Grand macabre (Ligeti). With the Requiem by Verdi the Choir goes to Brussels in the context of Europália (1991).
Under the Expo-98 it has performed at the closing concert. The band as acted under the direction of some of the most prestigious batons like Antonino Votto, Tullio Serafin, Vittorio Gui, Carlo Maria Giulini, Oliviero de Fabritiis, Otto Klemperer, Molinari-Pradelli, Franco Ghione, Alberto Erede, Alberto Zedda, Georg Solti, Nello Santi, Nicola Rescigno, Bruno Bartoletti, Heinrich Hollreiser, Richard Bonynge, García Navarro, Wolfgang Rennert, Rafael Frühbeck of Burgos, Franco Ferraris, James Conlon, Harry Christophers, Michel Plasson and Marc Minkowski, among others. It was also directed in operas and concerts by the most important portuguese conductors, with a special emphasis to Pedro de Freitas Branco. |
