| Variations of Name | Sao Paulo Symphony Orchestra | Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo |
| Biography | Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo (OSESP) (São Paulo State Symphony) is a symphony orchestra based in São Paulo, Brazil. With more than 200 concerts during its annual season, it is one of the largest and best known orchestras in South America.
With broad-based programming, juxtaposing the great works of international classical music with world premieres and pieces by Brazilian composers, OSESP brings to Brazil some of the major current soloists and conductors, such as Kurt Masur, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Osmo Vänskä, and Marin Alsop, singers such as Barbara Hendricks, Nathalie Stutzmann and Sergei Leiferkus, pianists Stephen Kovacevich, Maria João Pires, Paul Lewis and Nelson Freire, flutist Emmanuel Pahud, cellist Antonio Meneses, and violinists Pinchas Zukerman, Leila Josefowicz and Leonidas Kavakos, among the more than 60 visiting artists each year.[citation needed]
Over the last years, OSESP has toured Brazil, Latin America, the United States and Europe. The latest tour in Europe (2010, including Vienna, Salzburg, Frankfurt, Warsaw, Madrid and other places) led to invitations to a return trip in 2013.[clarification needed]
History[edit]
Founded by João de Sousa Lima in 1954, OSESP alternated between periods of success and great difficulty, including a hiatus in its activities. After Italian conductor Bruno Roccelas stay the group was under the command of Eleazar de Carvalho for 24 years, until his death in 1996. Under the direction of John Neschling from 1997 to 2008, the orchestra went through major transformations which positioned them as a reference for quality and excellence in the fields of art, culture, and education in Brazil.[citation needed]
With the support of the State Government, the Eleazar de Carvalho Musical Documentation Center was founded, and Osesp launched an orchestral subscription series, various educational programs and volunteer groups, a publisher for scores called Criadores do Brasil, and a Music Academy (founded 2006, hosting 20 students per year). It also initiated a partnership with the Swedish recording company BIS to launch more than 20 CDs of the orchestras performances, as well as an ongoing partnership with Brazilian label Biscoito Fino. The more than 40 CDs that have been recorded to date by OSESP include all the symphonies of Camargo Guarnieri, Francisco Bragas opera Jupyra, works by Francisco Mignone and Cláudio Santoro, and Villa-Lobos's complete Bachianas Brasileiras and Chôros. Beginning 2011, the orchestra started recording the complete cycle of eleven symphonies by Villa-Lobos, conducted by Isaac Karabtchevsky, for the Naxos label. For the same label it will also begin[when?] a complete cycle of Prokofiev's symphonies, conducted by the new Chief Conductor, Marin Alsop.
The former Symphonic Chorus of the State of São Paulo was incorporated into the OSESP, thus creating the Symphonic Chorus and the Chamber Chorus (Naomi Munakata, conductor). Also created was the Childrens Chorus (Teruo Yoshida, conductor) and in 2004, the Teenagers Chorus (Yoshida).
Since 2005, the orchestra has been run by the OSESP Foundation, a non-profit organization presided by former President of Brazil Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Government support (from the State of São Paulo) amounts to more than 60% of the budget; the rest comes from private funding, ticket sales and subscribers.
In January 2009 it was announced that Neschling's contract with OSESP was rescinded with immediate effect by the orchestra's governing board. The French conductor Yan Pascal Tortelier was named Chief Conductor for 2010 and 2011, after one year as principal guest. From January 2010, music scholar and writer Arthur Nestrovski was named Artistic Director, in charge of programming, educational activities, publications and outreach programs. In February, 2011 it was announced that Marin Alsop would become Chief Conductor with a five-year contract beginning in 2012. Tortelier will remain as Principal Guest Conductor.[1][not in citation given] Celso Antunes became the Associate Conductor (201216). |