Gretel Cazón Zayas

Gretel is a graduate in Lyric Singing from the Instituto Superior de Arte, harmonizing her great passions and ranging from Shakespeare and Neruda to Martí and Dulce María Loynaz; she embraces zarzuela, musical and dramatic theater, opera, trova and guaracha, to mention just a few styles.

When very young, Gretel wanted to enroll in the Escuela Nacional de Arte (ENA) upon finishing secondary school, but that year no spots were offered for the capital. It was during that time when she met Armando Suárez del Villar, who told her:

"If you like it so much, then prepare yourself for the entrance exams at Instituto Superior de Arte."

Three years after that conversation with the National Theater Prize winner, Gretel—who had taken several acting workshops with Suárez del Villar himself, also a National Prize winner for Artistic Teaching, and others he taught for humorists alongside Osvaldo Doimeadiós—presented herself at the ISA, but she carried another advantage: she had studied singing with Hugo Marcos.

"I was surprised when the distinguished baritone assured me that I had the conditions for lyric art, something as magical as ballet, and that allows your voice to reach the highest possible levels."

She enrolled at Instituto Superior de Arte in the Lyric Art specialty. During that time she had to dedicate herself to piano, musical harmony and caring for her vocal cords. She graduated under the guidance of maestro María Eugenia Barrios: pedagogue, actress and distinguished singer. Upon graduating, she attended a degree-level course equivalent to the intermediate level of acting convened by Agencia Actuar.

She began her artistic career as a lyric singer at the Centro Nacional de Música de Concierto (CNMC) where she was able to join the chorus directed by Carmen Collado. Simultaneously she was admitted to the Mephisto Teatro company. She started with a classic like Cabaret, playing the role of Sally Bowles, a passionate woman full of conflicts who yearned to be a singer, an irresistible character for an actress. With that production she performed on a national tour, which allowed her to face different audiences and exchange with very experienced actors and others younger but of notable talent.

With Mephisto she had other opportunities such as being part of the cast in pieces like Escándalo en la Trapa, Amadeus, The Diary of Anne Frank. She was part of Grupo de Teatro Pálpito with professor Ariel Bouza, a company with great dynamism that does theater for adults and children.

Currently she works with maestro José Milián and his Pequeño Teatro de La Habana.

She started in Cuban Television with the teleplay Mi Caballero de París, directed by Consuelo Ramírez, where she performed a scene in which she played the character of the great Eslinda Núñez in her youth.

Her first major role was the character Estrella in the Cuban telenovela Aquí estamos (2010), which she obtained through a casting call. In 2019 she returned to the small screen with the character of Alicia in the telenovela Más allá del límite and her voice moves audiences as well in "Caminar sin gravedad," one of the original themes composed for this drama.

Gretel has continued singing with live musicians in different venues, whenever the opportunity presents itself. She completed an album where she addresses different styles of popular Cuban music and where she has had the pleasure of performing duets with William Vivanco and with Ela Calvo. The production was handled by Lucía Huergo, and featured, among others, first-rate musicians such as Carlos Gaitán, Enrique Plá, Alexander Abreu, Jorgito Aragón, and Jorge Chicoy.

"I want to say who I am, the songs that have moved me throughout these years of my career and some texts that have accompanied me on this journey. Certainly theater is one of my great passions and television has brought me close to people in a very special way, but I feel that music unites both sides of this narrow strait and I no longer want to wait. I want to believe that it can be a door that opens to allow me to continue entering as a singer, as well," commented the lyric singing graduate about her motivations.

Gretel has also participated in other television spaces such as series, short stories, comedy programs and hosting of various programs. In the theatrical field she has ventured into musical theater in the works Víctor y Victoria and Cabaret. She is currently a soloist at the Centro Nacional de Música Popular.