In 1912, a group of poets, journalists, musicians, lawyers, professors and businessmen founded a society to provide high culture to support São Paulo's (and Brazil's) economic development, with the promotion of evenings of music and literature.

In the beginning, there was a predominance readings and lectures by the mostrelevant writers and intellectuals of the time but later music became the focus of its activities.

Today the Sociedade de Cultura Artística promotes one of the most important classical music seasons in Brazil, with artists such as Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim

Daniel Barenboim, KBE is an Argentinian-Israeli pianist and conductor. He has served as music director of several major symphonic and operatic orchestras and made numerous recordings....

, Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma

Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...

 and Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta

Zubin Mehta is an Indian conductor of western classical music. He is the Music Director for Life of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.-Biography:...

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Sociedade de Cultura Artística owns a venue in São Paulo, Teatro Cultura Artística

Teatro Cultura Artística

Since 1919, Sociedade de Cultura Artística nurtured the dream of having its own theatre in São Paulo, Brazil.This was only made possible in the late 1940s. The construction of the theatre, between the years 1947 and 1950, was a period of enormous enthusiasm...

, with two theatres/concert halls: Sala Esther Mesquita and Sala Rubens Sverner which was almost completely destroyed by fire in August 2008. The Society is now raising funds to complete its rebuilding, which started in March 2010.