Mayor kills off an orchestra on his Facebook page

Mayor kills off an orchestra on his Facebook page

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norman lebrecht

January 10, 2017

Brazil has abolished another orchestra, this time by social media.

The new Mayor of Sao José, Felicio Ramuth announced on Facebook that the sao josé dos campos symphony orchestra has been permanently closed. He said in a Fb video message that the city cannot pay its water bills, let alone its health care.

The rest of his page is full of pictures of Ramuth visiting a hospital.

More Brazil cuts here.

Comments

  • Robert says:

    Interesting that they cannot afford their water bills yet the picture is taken outside a toilet/water closet!

  • Emmanuele Baldini says:

    I think that an orchestra, in a rich city like São José dos Campos, deserve MUCH MORE than 2 and a half million reais (more or less 800.000 Euros). To have a strong impact on the cultural life of the people it need much more.
    Art IS health!

  • Daniel Auner says:

    isn’t the Embraer airplane factory in Sao Jose dos Campos ? it should be one of the richest cities!

    • Marilia says:

      Yes, it should! but, the last mayor had a terrible ‘performance’ in the last years and the city has a lot of debts like eletricity bill, water bill and many suppliers without payment! Just like 100 million dollars of debits (more or less).

      Despite this, we are all very upset about this situation.

      • Rodrigo B. says:

        Marilia, you’re buying into the new mayor’s populist and simplistic rhetoric. This is not about budget cuts, this is about personal vendetta. 2.5 million is a ridiculously low figure for a city like Sao Jose. The last mayor, incompetent as he may have been, is just the scapegoat here. Unfortunately, once again the arts suffer and the uninformed citizens cheer, not knowing that they’ve been tricked.

      • Rodrigo Borges says:

        Marilia, you’re buying into the new mayor’s populist and simplistic rhetoric. This is not about budget cuts, this is about personal vendetta. 2.5 million is a ridiculously low figure for a city like Sao Jose. The last mayor, incompetent as he may have been, is just the scapegoat here. Unfortunately, once again the arts suffer and the uninformed citizens cheer, not knowing that they’ve been tricked.

      • Comissionado Consciente says:

        C’mon! Everybody Knows that the mayor and his party hate culture, and its objective it’s to destroy the cultural foundation of the city.

      • Daniel V says:

        The real problem is the Major – not the Orchestra.

  • pasquarelli junior says:

    Dear, please, if classical music and culture promote as much interest in you as in me, I ask you to understand what happened to our former rich city in the last four years. Public employees without payment, hospitals without receiving payments due by the city hall, corruption in the purchase of school supplies, strike in garbage collection. Music and culture are important, of course, but before the city hall has to list the priorities. For now, no one, I said, no one said that the cancellation of the orchestra is final. Read and study before forming opinions!

  • Rodrigo Borges says:

    Marilia, you’re buying into the new mayor’s populist and simplistic rhetoric. This is not about budget cuts, this is about personal vendetta. 2.5 million is a ridiculously low figure for a city like Sao Jose. The last mayor, incompetent as he may have been, is just the scapegoat here. Unfortunately, once again the arts suffer and the uninformed citizens cheer, not knowing that they’ve been tricked.

  • Junior says:

    – Prefeito de S.J dos Campos, o senhor já é notícia a longa distância por economizar menos de 0,1% do orçamento na Cultura!
    The budget of this orchestra less than 0,1% in Sao Jose dos Campos. Would you agree to extinguish the Symphony Orchestra???

  • Cunha says:

    Guys, i live in Sao Jose and, despite all efforts, mayor’s budget is kinda low due the last mayor’s lousy jobs. Besides that, orchestra isn’t killed at all. He won’t renew their contract, but they can raise money from donations and entrepreneurship programs for culture and art. Town Hall has more stuff to concern about than that.

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