Gladys Fraga

Born in La Habana. At only 12 years old she achieved her first triumph in the radio program "Buscando Estrellas".

She was then a young woman with beautiful green eyes and tall stature, who began working in a business in the city of La Habana. She was a beautiful girl, cheerful, with a singular manner, whom radio and television would make popular.

In 1950 she inaugurated Cuban television and, in the Program "Bar Bacardí", she performed as her first song "Flor del Yumurí".

On channel 4 and in the program "Escuela en TV" they awarded her first prize. This fact opened doors for her in front of the cameras and she began to participate in the programs: Serenata Cubana, Regalías el cuño, Jueves de Partagás, Álbum de Cuba, Bacardí y Hatuey, Noche Cubana, Fiesta con Bacardí, Casino de la Alegría, Palmas y Cañas.

As a soprano she performed in numerous venues both in the city of La Habana and throughout the rest of the country. She participated, among others, in the following operas and operettas: Manon, Fausto, La traviata, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La bohème, El trovador, Cecilia Valdés, Luisa Fernanda, Los Gavilanes, María la O, Rosa la china, El cafetal.

On radio her melodious voice was also heard in the programs "Fiesta a las nueve" and "Alegrías de Sobremesa".
In La viuda alegre she shared the leading role with Rosita Fornés. She worked on stage with the best singers of her era: Ester Borja, María de los Ángeles Santana, María Remolá, Alba Marina, Ramón Calzadilla, etc.

All the press comments of that time agreed that she was one of the young Cuban singers with the most quality and training, as well as a beautiful and magnificent soprano.

This is the opinion of Ester Borja: "I was surprised when I heard her for the first time, a very pretty young woman, with an extraordinary voice, who could have made a career not only here but abroad because she combined these qualities: dedication, talent and responsibility. I was fortunate to see her work in Álbum de Cuba, always willing to learn, to give the best of her art, she was very affectionate, very sweet and a very good friend".

When she traveled to Matanzas in 1969 she met Alfonso Llorens, whom she married and for that reason she left the stages of the famous theaters of the Capital, the Opera Nacional where she was an undisputed star, and began her artistic life in Matanzas, the beautiful city of bridges, the Athens of Cuba.

She joined her husband in the Grupo Teatro Lírico de Matanzas carrying out multiple activities, it is here where she earned the nickname of "Cecilia" for her magnificent interpretation of this character.

Just a month before her daughter was born she performed in Matanzas and in those days the Periódico Girón published: "Cecilia Valdés had a beautiful baby girl. On December 6th her daughter was born in the Maternity Hospital, whom her parents named Roxana".

She participated in all important events of the cultural life of Matanzas: School of Nurses in the 10th Educational Evening; Program of the Matanzas Auditorium with the Matanzas Symphonic Orchestra on the occasion of the 281st Anniversary of the Founding of the City, tribute to mothers organized by the regional directorate of Community Services and Culture, in the Teatro Sauto on the occasion of the proclamation of National Monuments of Teatro Sauto, Castillo San Severino, Museo El Morrillo.

She was a member of the UNEAC and a singing professor at the School of Professional Improvement of Matanzas.

Two months before her death, at the Rincón Lírico de Matanzas, she sang Celos de Lecuona. At the end Gilberto Pérez Lavastida played some piano solos and invited the singers who had performed to sing with his accompaniment; she could not stay because her family obligations prevented her but that did not prevent those attending the event from recognizing that she had looked as always, despite her 65 years.

Then she suffered a stroke that she could not survive.