Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra Cancels June Performances Amid Severe Floods

The 2024 Rio Grande do Sul floods are severe floods caused by heavy rains and storms that have hit the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and the adjacent Uruguayan cities of Treinta y Tres, Paysandú, Cerro Largo, and Salto.

The Porto Alegre Symphony Orchestra Foundation has cancelled the performances planned for June. The decision was made due to the state's public calamity situation. Among the performances was Puccini's opera La bohème, which was due to be staged at the end of the month at the Theatro São Pedro.

‘At the moment, the management of the Ospa Foundation is studying new possible dates for the suspended concerts and is waiting for access to the Fernando Ferrari Administrative Centre (Caff), where the Ospa House is located. In addition to concerts, all in-person activities at the Ospa House remain suspended, such as rehearsals and visits to the Ospa Memorial. The Ospa School, located in Palacinho, in the centre of Porto Alegre, also has classes and other in-person activities suspended,’ says the statement distributed by the orchestra on Monday morning, the 3rd.

Musicians from the orchestra have begun a series of performances in shelters in the metropolitan region of the capital of Rio Grande do Sul. The first meeting took place last Tuesday (28 May) at a shelter in the Rio Branco neighbourhood in Porto Alegre. With instruments in hand, violinists Paulo Barcelos and Geraldo Moori, violist Delmar Breunig and cellist Deolindo de Azambuja performed popular songs, gaucho songs and nursery rhymes.