Antonio Lázaro

He was born in Guanabacoa, La Habana.

He studied singing at the Academia Bovi-Farelli; at the Conservatorio Hubert de Blanck (with Paul Csonka), with Carlos Astiazaraín and with José Ojeda.

He began his artistic career in 1950 and made his professional debut performing Fernando from Doña Francisquita at the Payret theater (1961). He was a founder of the Teatro Lírico Nacional de Cuba. His beautiful and well-timbred lyric tenor voice allowed him to perform an extensive repertoire, both in zarzuela and operetta —Luisa Fernanda (Javier), Los gavilanes (Gustavo), Bohemios (Víctor), Katiuska (El Príncipe), Marina (Jorge), La leyenda del beso (Iván), La del soto del parral (Miguel), La viuda alegre (Rosillón), María la O (Fernando), Cecilia Valdés (Leonardo)— as well as in opera —El matrimonio secreto (Paolino), La traviata (Alfredo), Rigoletto (Duke of Mantua), Madama Butterfly (Pinkerton), Tosca (Cavaradossi), La bohème (Rodolfo), Il trovatore (Manrique), Aida (Radamés), Los payasos (Canio), Cavalleria rusticana (Turiddu), Lucia di Lammermoor (Edgardo)—, which he performed on stage and before television cameras.

He portrayed tenor Enrico Caruso in the French-Cuban-Mexican film, El recurso del método (1978, dir. M. Littin).

He performed in concert in several countries in Latin America, in Austria, Bulgaria and Spain. He died in La Habana on October 30, 2005.