AT FIRST glance, the 'City of Music' appears to be in perfect harmony with Rio de Janeiro, Brazil's lyrical capital of carnival.
The soaring wings of the concert hall, one of the most ambitious architecture projects since the capital Brasilia was built from scratch in the 1950s, mirror the sweep of Rio's mountains and the waves crashing on nearby beaches.
Music is only riva
lled by football among the passions of Cariocas, Rio's residents. So how could a majestic shrine to song as big as Rio's Maracana soccer stadium not be a hit?
To many Cariocas, though, the centre's opening night to the strains of Mozart and Johann Strauss was a source of anger rather than pride.
Supporters say the building, which cost 518m reals (£153m) and is still six months from completion, will help reclaim Rio's place as Brazil's cultural capital with an iconic structure like Sydney's Opera House.
But budget overruns, a questionable location and the stark contrast between the grand project and Rio's serious crime, transport and health problems have turned many people off the project.
In a city where Samba, Bossa Nova and other Brazilian sounds rule, many question the decision to spend the equivalent of 5% of next year's city budget on a centre where classical music and opera will dominate.
"The City of Music is a block of concrete costing a horrific sum of money for us Cariocas and which won't bring the benefits that the population needs," said Marcos dos Santos, a 38-year-old fitness and dance trainer.
The brainchild of Rio's unpopular mayor Cesar Maia, the one million square foot building in the beach-side Barra da Tijuca area is impressive in scale and style.
Its main hall holds 1,800 people and is set between the horizontal plates of the roof and a public terrace that gives access to cinemas, restaurants and classrooms. To be surrounded by a large park, it is like a massive, airy house on stilts.
French architect Christian de Portzamparc created the space to "democratise" people's experience – as if looking down from Rio's iconic Sugar Mountain or Christ the Redeemer statue.
"I think people will come here just by childish, beautiful curiosity to discover," said Portzamparc, who also designed Paris's popular City of Music centre.
A relatively sterile collection of condominiums and shopping malls up to an hour's drive west of Rio's centre, the 'Barra' district has attracted many wealthier Cariocas seeking respite from Rio's violence and other problems.
Backers say the centre will give the area a public space and bring a cultural attraction within reach of Rio's poor north and west, which bear the brunt of the city's problems.
"This is giving a message that Rio is continuing in a new part of its territory," said Portzamparc, 64. "It will be alive because music and dance are important in Brazil."
But after reports of spiralling costs the building has become a subject of media ridicule and a vote-winning whipping boy among candidates to replace Maia in October elections.
The media has reported the budget more than sextupled from an original 80 million reals, although city officials deny that, saying the initial figure was only for one part of the project.
"Cariocas are very critical. You could say it is part of their DNA," said Rio culture secretary Ricardo Macieira, adding that the centre would affirm Rio's "international identity".
Portzamparc said the budget roughly doubled, mostly due to delays caused by Rio's hosting of the Pan American Games in 2007, which led to a rush to complete the building with 3,000 workers toiling around the clock.
Maia, whose term ends this month, was also broadly criticised for spending more than £1bn on the Games.
The Brazilian Symphony Orchestra was left hanging around a week before Christmas when fire officials said the building was not ready hours before the scheduled first concert.
The music hall has no subway station nearby and ticket prices could be prohibitive for many of the city's poorest.
"Even the higher-income people from other parts of the city won't go there for the concerts because we have transportation difficulties," said Ricardo Gouvea, an architect and human rights activist at Rio's Bento Rubiao Foundation.
Gouvea said the money would have been better invested in Rio's traditional culture, noting that some popular Carnival Samba schools that help bring thousands of tourists to Rio had struggled to raise enough funds in recent years.
Others argue the priority should be reviving the historic centre of Rio, home to the lively Lapa nightlife area of bars and Samba clubs. Much of the centre is deserted on weekends, haunted by abandoned buildings and plagued by crime.
"Tourists come to Rio with a vague idea in their head that they will pass a guy on a street corner composing and immersed in music," said Dos Santos, the fitness trainer. "But this doesn't exist today, it's in the past."
