Gladys Puig

Renowned Cuban lyric singer. Soprano with exceptional vocal abilities. She currently serves as a judge in various events and as a music pedagogue.

She was born in Havana and is the daughter of pianist and composer Cheo Belén Puig. She studied singing in the 1950s. She studied at the Municipal Conservatory of Havana, now the Amadeo Roldán School of Music, perfected her technique in Italy, and made her debut under the baton of maestro Ernesto Lecuona. She developed her vocal technique in Cuba with soprano Zoila Gálvez and perfected it in Italy with maestro Napoleone Annovazzi.

On January 4, 1958, together with the Experimental Opera Group, she premiered in Cuba Puccini's IL TABARRO at the Casino Deportivo hall in Havana. Its first performers were Olga Valdés and Gladys Puig (Giorgetta); Mary Ellen de Cárdenas (Frúgola); Orlando Hernández and Ángel Menéndez (Michele); Hernando Chaviano (Lover); Carlos Ruíz de la Tejera (An Organ Grinder) and Olga Díaz Sampera, among others. The artistic director of the production was Paul Csonka, staging by Eric Santamaría, and musical direction by Pura Ortiz. The general coordinator was Hernando Chaviano.

From 1959 onward she worked in various operas and zarzuelas at the Lyric Theater.

She appeared publicly in a concert by the Municipal Band of Havana, directed by maestro Gonzalo Roig. During those years she was part of the casts of Pro Arte Musical—The Secret Marriage by Cimarosa, Manon by Massenet, starring Victoria de los Ángeles, and the Cuban premiere of Sister Angelica by Puccini, among others—. She premiered in Cuba Amelia Goes to the Ball by Giancarlo Menotti (title role) and Il tabarro by Puccini (Giorgetta).

She participated in opera seasons—Faust—and zarzuela seasons—Doña Francisquita and Cecilia Valdés by Roig, premiere of the definitive version (all in 1961)—which were the immediate precursors of the National Lyric Theater, of which she is a founder and for which she starred in The Merry Widow, Luisa Fernanda, María la O, Lola Cruz and The Slave, among other titles.

She also performed extensively in nightclubs and in television productions of operas, zarzuelas, operettas, and musical comedies (South Pacific). During the Second National Festival of Popular Music (1963) she coordinated the revival of La casita criolla by Villoch and Anckermann (dir. Gaspar Arias) at the Amadeo Roldán theater. She has also distinguished herself as a singing teacher and has directed numerous stage presentations by her students in intimate venues, such as the Cultural Center of Spain (currently the Hispano-American Institute) and the Catalan Society.

She has worked in radio and television and has given recitals in various Havana venues. She developed a repertoire fundamentally of Cuban composers. She was part of the roster of the Gonzalo Roig artistic group at the Musical Theater directed by Héctor Quintero. She was a stage director for the Comic Opera and the Cuban Opera and cultivated an extensive repertoire of operas, operettas, and zarzuelas.

The soprano and teacher Gladys Puig, who holds the Distinction for National Culture, has also earned the recognition of colleagues and friends for her years of dedication.