# Adolfo Casas **Date of birth:** September 2, 1947 **Date of death:** March 18, 2012 **Categories:** Arts, Music, tenor, professor, Singer Tenor and pedagogue of the Cuban lyric stage. First Soloist and General and Artistic Director of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba. He was also founder and Director of the Teaching Unit of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba. He was born in Sumidero, province of Pinar del Río. He studied singing with Romano Splinter. He began his musical studies at the Conservatory of his native city, where he made his debut as a soloist at the Lyric Theater with the opera Bastián y Bastiana, by Mozart, at 16 years of age. Years later he completed his singing studies at the State Conservatory of Plovdiv, Bulgaria, with the eminent professor Sima Ivanova. In 1976, during his stay in that country, he performed with the Opera "La Bohème" by Puccini and "La Traviata" in 1977. In 1978, upon his return to Cuba, he was invited by the National Lyric Theater to participate in the staging of "Cecilia Valdés", by Gonzalo Roig, directed by Roberto Blanco, and he also joined the cast of the premiere of the definitive version of "Amalia Batista", by Rodrigo Prats, under the direction of its author in 1979. The following year he joined the cast of the TLNC, where he performed a vast repertoire of operas such as: "The Barber of Seville", "Lucia di Lammermoor", "L'elisir d'amore", "Rigoletto", "Aida", "La Bohème", "Tosca", "Los Payasos", "Cavalleria rusticana", Spanish and Cuban zarzuelas and operettas among which "La viuda alegre" and "El murciélago" stand out, among others. His art has graced innumerable stages, performing in several European countries such as: Bulgaria, Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Russia, Spain, Austria, Czech Republic, Poland, Korea and in Latin America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Canada, among others. Contracted by the Silesia Opera for the 1988-1989 season, he starred in the titles "Carmen", "Tosca", "Madama Butterfly", "Halka", "Eugenio Oneguin" and "Nabucco". From 1995 onwards he participated in the annual zarzuela seasons of the Foundation for Lyric Art, based at the Teatro Colsubsidio, Bogotá, and intervened in the first recordings of the complete versions of "Cecilia Valdés" and "Amalia Batista". His teaching work, exercised for several decades, was enhanced by numerous students, among the latest generations of Cuban lyric singers. For 22 years he served as Professor of Singing at the Superior Institute of Art of Cuba, an institution that granted him the Teaching Category of Associate Professor. He was also a master of the Ars Longa Ancient Music Ensemble, a group of recognized national and international prestige. He died in Havana on March 19, 2012, victim of a cerebrovascular accident. Repertoire Operas La Bohème Madama Butterfly Tosca La Traviata Rigoletto Nabuco Un Ballo in Maschera Aida Lucía de Lammermoor Elixir de Amor Eugenio Oneguín El Barbero de Sevilla Cavalleria Rusticana La Esclava Manita en el Suelo Halka Paria I Pagliacci Fausto Operettas El Murciélago La Viuda Alegre Zarzuelas Luisa Fernanda La del Soto del Parral La Leyenda del Beso Los Gavilanes Cecilia Valdés Amalia Batista La Tabernera del Puerto El Cafetal Lola Cruz María La O Symphonic-Vocal Works Ninth Symphony. Ludwig Van Beethoven Magnificat and Passion According to St. John. Johann Sebastian Bach Requiem and Coronation Mass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Stabat Mater. G. Rossini Requiem. G. Verdi Third Symphony. Szymanovsky Concertatorio Michel Legrand Chamber Music Nocturnal Songs. B. Smetana Triptych. H. Gramatges Seven Spanish Popular Songs. M. de Falla Seven Popular Sephardic Songs. Nin-Culmell Black Songs. R. Bañuelas Gypsy Songs. A. Dvorak Awards and Distinctions Award winner at the International Competition for Young Opera Singers and the Katia Popova International Music Festival of Bulgaria, at the Pyongyang Spring Festival, in addition to having participated in several International Music Festivals in Poland, Mexico and Costa Rica. Among the innumerable distinctions and recognitions received in Cuba are the Order for National Culture and the Alejo Carpentier Medal.