Until the beginning of the 20th century, the operas performed at the Municipal Theater of São Paulo were entirely foreign productions, since the venue didn't have enough instrumentalists and choirs to produce its own shows. The orchestras that were active in São Paulo during this period, although frequent, were not permanent, being organized by event and dispersing at the end of them. Based on reports by conductor
Armando Belardi, the origin of the orchestra is attributed to the
Sociedade de Concertos Clássicos de São Paulo. The first permanent ensemble of musicians with a concert season was established in 1935 through a partnership between the
Department of Culture and the
Sociedade de Cultura Artística. The suggestion was made by Secretary of Culture
Mário de Andrade to utilize an orchestra that had been contracted for seasons by the society since 1933. The group's first conductor was the German
Ernst Melich, who had already worked with the orchestra of the
Sociedade de Cultura Artística. Soon it began to function regularly, hosting concerts and being informally called the Department of Culture Orchestra, but still without legal stability or the hiring of permanent musicians. Each concert season required specific funding, with performers recruited and paid according to the occasion. == See also ==