Bárbara Llanes Zertucha

Excellent singer, pianist, composer, and arranger.

She was born in Bejucal, province of La Habana, now Mayabeque.

Granddaughter of Cuban violinist Casimiro Zertucha (1871-1960). Her mother, soprano Aida Zertucha, was part of the amateur group Teatro Lírico de Bejucal "Blanca Becerra", directed by Juan J. Barona.

She began studying music at age 7 at the Conservatorio "Alejandro García Caturla". When she finished her intermediate level piano studies at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán, she realized that, in a certain sense, her career as a pianist had come to an end. Additionally, she was already trying to compose, so she received some classes from maestro Harold Gramatges.

"Later she studied contemporary harmony, traditional harmony, counterpoint, and composition with maestro Alfredo Diez Nieto, and this completed her preparation to enter the ISA in the composition program."

At the same time, she wanted to work as a singer in some choirs, but they never needed sopranos, because female low voices in Cuba are scarcer. And at some point she learned that in the group Estudio Lírico, directed by Alina Sánchez, they were indeed looking for sopranos, and she went to audition.

"So she began singing in this company which dissolved shortly thereafter. But it was not until five years later, when composer and orchestral conductor Roberto Valera heard her in some master classes (taught by Spanish maestro Isabel Penagos at the ISA), that he asked her to premiere his cantata Yugo y Estrella with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Oriente at the Teatro Heredia.

"From this moment on, an opinion began to form about her way of singing and the preparation given to her by music teachers, and the specialists Alicia Perea and María Felicia Pérez, who proposed that she work with two excellent Cuban musicians: Leo Brouwer and José María Vitier. This is the point where her career begins."

Endowed with a solid musical foundation, Bárbara completed her studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte, where she graduated in the specialties of composition and singing, the latter guided by professor María Eugenia Barrios. She has received master classes in vocal performance from Spanish soprano Isabel Penagos and from Mayda Prado.

Her stage debut took place as a member of the Estudio Lírico de La Habana in 1991. She has been a guest artist of the Teatro Lírico Nacional de Cuba for productions of La Traviata (Violetta), Rigoletto (Gilda), and María la O (Niña Tula).

She has participated in several concerts of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, with which she has introduced to Cuba important works from the symphonic-vocal repertoire—Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, among others. She has performed in world premiere performances works by Cuban composers Roberto Valera and José María Vitier.

She has participated in numerous festivals as both composer and performer and has been awarded on multiple occasions.

Since 1999 she has taught at the Instituto Superior de Arte.

Listening to her and watching her on stage is perhaps to rediscover the miracle of the greatest music of all time. And it is, likewise, to rediscover how much a beautiful voice means in bringing us with the greatest pleasure to the most beautiful opera arias... and to the most beloved songs, such as excellent boleros.