Luisa María Morales Ruiz

She was a lyric singer of Cuban origin whose voice is known as Soprano or Treble. She began her artistic career early, and her success was equally swift. As an interpreter of works of high interpretive complexity, she performed alongside greats of Cuban music such as Ernesto Lecuona, with whom she shared several stages.

She was born in Havana. She received her first music lessons from Lizzie Morales. In 1924 she enrolled in the Philharmonic Music Conservatory of Havana, directed by Tina Farelli and Arturo Bovi, who were also her singing teachers. She completed her academic training at the Hubert de Blanck Conservatory, under whose guidance she concluded her studies in 1927.

On June 26, 1925, Luisa María Morales participated in the tribute offered to Hubert de Blanck on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the founding of his conservatory, held at the National Theater (now the Gran Teatro de La Habana), where she performed The Flight of the Turtledove by De Blanck, accompanied at the piano by Lizzie Morales.

She subsequently performed again on the same stage, this time with the Havana Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Gonzalo Roig, with which she sang works from the Italian operatic repertoire and the Prayer from the Christmas oratorio by Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes.

She performed for the first time alongside Ernesto Lecuona on June 6, 1926, when she interpreted For What and If You Loved Me, by Lecuona, at the National Theater. The Pro-Arte Musical Society presented her on January 15, 1927 at the Payret theater as an assisting artist in the recital of Italian tenor Beniamino Gigli. On May 14 of the same year she played Micaela in the opera Carmen by Bizet, alongside Spanish tenor Hipólito Lázaro, at the National Theater, under the direction of Guglielmo Sonriento; Aurora Buades and Luigi Borgonovo also performed.

On April 21, 1928, in the same theater, she sang, in company with Cuban baritone Alberto Márquez, the operetta Mademoiselle Nitouche by Hervé; in 1929 she premiered, with tenor Dino Borgioli, at Pro-Arte Musical, the opera Fritz's Friend by Mascagni, conducted by Arturo Bovi. Spanish musicologist Adolfo Salazar visited Cuba in 1930, and on June 5 he gave the lecture "The Current Moment of Spanish Music," which was illustrated by Laura Alonso, José Echániz and Luisa María Morales, who performed "Lullaby and Jota" by Manuel de Falla, and "The White Doe" and "The Girl Who Goes to the Sea" by Rodolfo Halffter.

Between May and June 1931, she participated, along with María Cervantes, Caridad Suárez and Ana María Relaño, in Ernesto Lecuona's season at the Prada, Principal and National theaters. In 1932 she participated in the tribute festival to Lecuona, in which she starred in the zarzuela "María la O," and also performed other works by Lecuona, such as The Land of Venus, The Cart Driver and The Ladies' League. She sang the zarzuela Marina by Spanish composer Pascual Emilio Arrieta on August 4, 1932 at the Payret Theater; subsequently, on the same stage, she played Ketty in the operetta The Duchess of Bal Tabarín, in which Roberto Rey, Blanquita Bárcena, Miguel de Grandy and Paco Lara also performed.

In 1933: the operetta The Count of Luxembourg, and the operas "Madame Butterfly" by Puccini, under the direction of Ethel Leginska, and "Rosalima." On October 13 of the same year she participated with Tomasita Núñez in a concert in which works by Lecuona were performed, and she interpreted "Ave Lira," "Just One Kiss," "Lola Cruz," "The Parade Left," "Romantic Serenade" and "María la O." She left for Mexico in December 1933 as part of Lecuona's Company; on January 13, 1934, at the Teatro Esperanza Iris, she sang the zarzuela "The Coffee Plantation" and assumed the character María la O in Havana Mosaic; she would also perform other works by Lecuona: "Little Girl Rita," "Rosa the Chinese," The Moorish Guaracha, Julián the Rooster, The Cornfield, The Cart Driver, The Flower of the Siege and The Woman of No One.

In May 1934 she was hired, along with Cubans Ernesto Lecuona, Margot Alvariño, Mimí Cal, Manuel Colina, Fernando Mendoza and Constantino Pérez, and Mexicans Toña la Negra, Lucha María, Carmen Godoy and Pedro Vargas, to perform in the musical review Roguishness by Agustín Lara, presented at the Teatro Politeama.

In Mexico City she filmed with Mexican actor Alberto Martí "Dear Mother," a film in which she interprets the song by Bola de Nieve, I Cannot Live Without You. She also performed on October 11, 1934 at the radio station XEFO, alongside Mexican tenor José Rubio, with "Cavalleria Rusticana," accompanied by the National Radio Orchestra; on the 4th of the same month she sang, directed by Jaime Serra, "The Merry Widow."

In 1935 she was hired by Joaquín Pardavé's company, and with them she performed at the Fábrega Theater and in the works "The People Are Happy," "Mexico Is Collapsing," "The Song Process," "This Is How Mexico Is" and "The Country of Tomorrow."

Returning to Cuba, in 1935 itself, she gave a concert with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Havana conducted by Amadeo Roldán; and later at the Martí Theater she sang Cecilia Valdés by Gonzalo Roig. Later she toured the La Caridad and Principal theaters with the works Cecilia Valdés, "María Belén Chacón" and "The Clarion." Between 1936 and 1937 she toured several countries in Latin America.

International Tours
Argentina
United States
Santo Domingo
Puerto Rico
Mexico

In Santo Domingo she premiered on July 31, 1937, at the Teatro Capitolio, the bolero-song "Blue," by Dominican composer Salvador Sturla; in Puerto Rico she performed on August 21, 1937, at the Municipal Coliseum of San Juan, where she sang "María Belén Chacón," and also performed at the Santa Rita Academy of the Mislán Theater; she was also applauded at the Atheneum and Pro-Arte of Ponce.

Upon her return to Cuba she performed, at the National Theater, alongside baritone Hipólito Lázaro, Marina, Wally and El Cid, as well as Pagliacci by Ruggiero Leoncavallo and the "Aria" from the third act of the opera "Aida" by Verdi in 1938; she played the main character in the film "Siboney," filmed in Cuba by Aspa Film, alongside actor and director Juan Orol.

In 1943 she toured New York, where she gave concerts at Carnegie Hall, with works by Ernesto Lecuona and Gonzalo Roig, conducted by their composers. Luisa María Morales performed in public for the last time on December 30, 1959, in the television program Concert Hall, in which she sang the "Aria" from "El Cid," by Jules Massenet.