World City Guide

Culture

Rio is and always has been a highly cultured city. The high density and rich ethnic mix of the population has given shape to all forms of artistic expression, which is evident in the music, dance and lifestyle of the Cariocas – especially during Carnival. There are many cultural centres, art galleries and performance venues in Rio, hosting an ever-changing series of events. The Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rua Primeiro de Maro 66, Centro (tel: (21) 3808 2020; website: www.cultura-e.com.br), is one of the city’s prime venues for music, plays, exhibitions and films.

The Rio Show magazine in the Friday edition of the O Globo newspaper has weekly cultural listings. Tickets are available for purchase at the venue box offices and, for some events, through Ticketmaster (tel: (11) 6846 6000; website: www.ticketmaster.com.br).

Music: The Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (website: www.osb.com.br) is based in Rio, performing at various venues in the city. The Theatro Municipal, Praa Floriano, Centro (tel: (21) 2262 3935; website: www.theatromunicipal.rj.gov.br), which has its own resident orchestra, is the main venue for classical concerts and operas.

Theatre: Rio has over 60 theatres, cultural centres, museums and cafs designated as spaces for the performing arts. Venues include the 200-seater Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Avenida Rio Branco 199, Centro (tel: (21) 2240 0068; website: www.mnba.gov.br), which stages classic performances, the Maison de France, Avenida Carlos 58, Centro (tel: (21) 2262 7527), offering contemporary shows, and the Theatro Municipal (see Music above), staging both contemporary and classic fare. Theatre is generally staged in Portuguese, with very little in English.

Dance: Rio’s ballet company, Ballet do Theatro Municipal, is based at the Theatro Municipal (see Music above). Samba is prevalent in the city. An elaborate Carnival-style samba show is performed daily from 2200 at Platforma 1, Rua Adalberto Ferreira 32, Leblon. At Asa Branca, Avenida Mem de S 17, Lapa (tel: (21) 2224 2342), Adelzon Alves offers samba de raiz (root samba). Other famous dance halls (gafieiras) in which visitors can sample samba or try some tango include Elite, Rua Frei Caneca 4, Centro (tel: (21) 2232 3217), and Estudantina, Praa Tiradentes 79 (tel: (21) 2507 8067).

Film: Cariocas are ardent cinemagoers, whether they are watching Brazilian or foreign films. American and European films are released quickly and are screened in the original language with Portuguese subtitles. Mainstream cinemas are situated throughout the city, including Roxy, Avenida Nossa Senhora de Copacabana 945, Copacabana (tel: (21) 2236 6245), and Cinema Largo do Machado, Largo do Machado 29 (tel: (21) 2205 6842). The arthouse cinema chain, Estao (tel: (21) 2537 1112; website: www.estacaovirtual.com), shows an up-to-date selection of international films and has branches all over the city, including the Botafogo, Centro and Leme districts. Cinema tickets cost around R$12.

The most famous film set in Rio is probably the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers classic, Flying Down to Rio (1933), which was filmed in the Copacabana Palace Hotel. More recently, Bossa Nova (1999), with Antonio Fagundes, was set in Rio. Carlos Diegues’ Orfeu (1999) and the 1959 Marcel Camus classic and award-winning Black Orpheus are both celluloid renderings of Vinicius De Moraes’ play, which retells the Greek myth of Orpheus, set in the delirium of Rio’s Carnival. More recently, a number of movies have explored the gritty reality of Rio’s poorer districts, including the internationally acclaimed 2002 film Ciudade de Deus (City of God).

Cultural events: The biggest cultural event in Rio is undoubtedly Carnival, which takes place annually in late February or early March, over the days running up to and including Shrove Tuesday. People from all over the world are attracted, in hundreds of thousands, to Rio’s annual orgy of grandiose fun and frivolity. Balls and street parties are held throughout the city during this frenetic period. Masquerade balls became popular with Rio’s elite in the mid-19th century and the poorer sections of society, not to feel excluded, popularised street celebrations with bands and parades. The main event now takes place in the purpose-built Sambdromo, where samba schools compete with music, costume, story, song, rhythm and dance in front of judges and up to 90,000 spectators. Tickets are available from Riotur (tel: (21) 2217 7575; website: www.rio.rj.gov.br/riotur), local travel agencies and banks. Advance booking is highly advisable.

Literary Notes
Brazilian literature remains largely untranslated into English. Two notable novelists who have enjoyed worldwide success are Jorge Amado and Paul Coelho. Coelho’s The Alchemist (1988) is considered a modern classic. Works set in Rio include Blues For A Lost Childhood (1989) by Antonio Torres, which depicts the life of a journalist who makes it to the big city but discovers life there to be more akin to a living hell than heaven. Other Brazilian writers include Carlos Drummond, Luis Fernando, Verissimo and Ziraldo.