Ángel Menéndez

He is a baritone and soloist of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, of which he is a founder.

He was born in Cárdenas, province of Matanzas. His singing teachers were Juan González, Eugenio Pasta, Consuelo Escriche, Joaquín Baralt, Oneida Padilla, René Castelar, Juan Vicini and Zoila Gálvez. Between 1964 and 1967 he perfected his technique in Bulgaria with Jristo Brámbarov.

He began his artistic career in 1951 with a television presentation. He was part of the choruses of the Coral Saudade, the Centro Gallego de La Habana and the Sociedad Pro Arte Musical de La Habana.

He participated in the Cuban premieres of the works: Amelia al baile, by Menotti (El marido, 1957); Il tabarro (Michele, 1958); Romeo y Julieta, by Boris Blacher (Benvolio, 1958); La solterona y el ladrón, by Menotti (Bob, 1959); La cambiale di matrimonio, by Rossini (Norton, 1959); El pobre marinero, by Milhaud (Amigo, 1960).

Founding member of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba. In more than 50 years of artistic career, he has performed operas —The Barber of Seville, Don Pasquale, Lucia di Lammermoor, L'elisir d'amore, Rigoletto, Il trovatore, Aida, Tosca, La bohème, Faust, Pagliacci, Cavalleria rusticana, Halka and Paria (the last two by Moniuszko, Cuban premieres)—, operettas —The Merry Widow—, Spanish zarzuelas —Luisa Fernanda, La leyenda del beso, La del soto del parral, La revoltosa, Bohemios— and Cuban works —La esclava, Patria, El triunfo de la rebelión—.

In 1979 he participated in the premiere of the definitive version of Amalia Batista, under the direction of its author, Rodrigo Prats and in 1987 he starred in the world premiere of the opera Hemingway, by Y. Kasarian.

He has performed in Central Europe —Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Poland— and has participated in various television productions of operas and zarzuelas.

Notable Works

He has in his repertoire, among others, in addition to the aforementioned titles, the operas, zarzuelas and operettas:

"Le nozze di Fígaro", by Mozart
"The Barber of Seville", by Rossini
"Rigoletto", by Verdi
"La traviata", by Verdi
"Il trovatore", by Verdi
"Aida", by Verdi
"Don Carlo", by Verdi
"La Bohème", by Puccini
"Tosca", by Puccini
"Lucia di Lammermoor"
"Don Pasquale"
"The Elixir of Love", by Donizetti
"Halka", by Moniuszko
"The Telephone", by Menotti
"Faust", by Gounod
"I pagliacci", by Leoncavallo
"Cavalleria rusticana", by Mascagni
"La esclava", by José Mauri
"Los gavilanes" by Guerrero
"Luisa Fernanda", by Moreno Torroba
"La revoltosa", by Chapí
"La leyenda del beso", by Soutullo and Vert
"La del soto del parral", by Soutullo and Vert
"Marina", by Arrieta
"La del manojo de rosas", by Sorozábal
"The Merry Widow", by Léhar
"The Count of Luxembourg", by Léhar
"La casta Susana", by Gilbert

He has made for the Cuban record label EGREM, the complete recording of the Cuban zarzuela "Amalia Batista", under the direction of its author.