Alberto Dávalos

Theatrical artist, tenor and stage director, founder of the Teatro Lírico de Matanzas and the Teatro Lírico de Holguín.

He was born in Pedro Betancourt, province of Matanzas, and studied singing with Tina Farelli.

He was a founding member of the Teatro Lírico de Matanzas in the early 1960s, replaced Daniel Marcos Martínez Ravento as general director of this company and performed as an interpreter and stage director in most of the titles in its repertoire.

At the Teatro Lírico de Matanzas, an institution that disappeared in 1987, he had a long career of recognition and success; later he taught at the Teatro Lírico Rodrigo Prats in Holguín, where he equally contributed to raising it to the best standards of this manifestation in Cuba.

He was a fervent defender of national lyric opera and devoted his efforts to rescuing forgotten works: Rosa la China, by Ernesto Lecuona and, above all, La Habana que vuelve, by Rodrigo Prats, which he performed in most dignified productions alongside the eternal classics: Cecilia Valdés, El cafetal and María la O. Some of these works were brought to the capital, where they obtained unanimous acceptance. When the Matanzas company dissolved, Dávalos went on to work for the Teatro Lírico de Holguín.

Works in which he participated

He was a fervent defender of national lyric opera and devoted his efforts to rescuing forgotten works: Rosa la China, by Ernesto Lecuona and, above all, La Habana que vuelve, by Rodrigo Prats, which he performed in most dignified productions alongside the eternal classics: Cecilia Valdés, El cafetal and María la O.

Some of these works were brought to the capital, where they obtained unanimous acceptance. When the Matanzas company dissolved, Dávalos went on to work for the Teatro Lírico de Holguín.

His death occurred in Matanzas on May 23, 1999. Shortly before, he had been awarded the Hacha de Holguín, a distinction exclusively dedicated to honoring natives of the region. That eastern province later established in his memory the award "Alberto Dávalos," which recognizes an entire life dedicated to lyric theater.