The Coral Paulistano (Choir of São Paulo) was assembled in 1936 promising to incorporate regional Brazilian music further into the Theatro Municipal’s programme. Mário de Andrade’s initiative was welcomed and successfully executed by the director of the Municipal Department of Culture at the time with the intent of sensitising the city’s high society to the ideals of that new nationalist movement that was starting to lure local composers but remained unknown by the general public still.

The group’s development, now seen as a great landmark of São Paulo’s musical history, was one of many repercussions of the modernist movement that was the Semana da Arte Moderna de 1922 (Week of Modern Art of 1922). Throughout the decades, the Choir has been under the guidance of many acclaimed musicians in Brazil, such as Camargo Guarnieri, Fructuoso Vianna, Miguel Arqueróns, Tullio Colacioppo, Abel Rocha, Zwinglio Faustini, Antão Fernandes, Samuel Kerr, Henrique Gregori, Roberto Casemiro, Mara Campos, Tiago Pinheiro, Bruno Greco Facio and Martinho Lutero Galati.

With an intense schedule of Brazilian erudite music performances in different locations in the city, the Choir got back on its feet and found its authenticity once again. Currently, the Choir of São Paulo’s titular choirmaster is Maíra Ferreira.