Luna Manzanares Nardo

Talented Cuban singer, owner of a wide vocal range and winner of the first performance mention in the minor category of the JoJazz competition.

Her mother, Ana María Nardo, is a painter, and her father was a set designer and art director. He worked with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío with Teatro Estudio. That is to say that her childhood was closely marked by art in a general sense. Furthermore, her grandmother sang very well, her mother was also a musical theater actress, in fact, she starred in Mary Poppins, one of the last musical theater productions of the 90s of the past century at the Teatro América. Singing was something that was a daily occurrence in her house.

Luna decided to present herself for auditions at a music school when everyone thought she was going to be a painter. She had aptitude and still enjoys painting in her free time. But the death of her father affected her greatly and one day while watching the TV program De la Gran Escena, her mother tells her that he would have liked for her to be a cellist. Then it was like a sentence, marked by his wish.

She auditioned for cello at the Guillermo Tomás school in Guanabacoa, but they didn't select her. It was good, because although it is a precious instrument, it is extremely difficult, requires concentration and a lot of dedication.

She studied at the Conservatorio Paulita Concepción at the elementary level and at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán in Music Theory and Choral Singing. The choir was an essential part in both careers. She is inspired by the outstanding Cuban voices María Teresa Vera, Benny Moré, Omara Portuondo, Miguelito Valdés, the Trío Matamoros and feels influenced by Elena Burke, Pablo Milanés and Gema Corredera.

In her repertoire she mixes jazz, trovadoresca, Brazilian and American music. The interpretation of classic themes of Cuban songwriting with contemporary arrangements also marks the musical direction of this young artist.

She was part of the Schola Cantorum Coralina group, with which she performed on several important stages in Cuba. While studying at the Conservatorio Amadeo Roldán in her second year, she won a mention in the JoJazz competition. From then on, she began working with Emir Santa Cruz and Michel Herrera singing jazz, and very soon, she entered the circuit of young jazz musicians of the time.

She also worked with Rember Duarte, Abel Calderón, Ernesto Camilo Vega, Alejandro Vargas, etc. She collaborated with different artists, including Inti Santana, Haydée Milanés, whose band she was part of for quite some time, Raúl Paz, Adrián Berazaín, Juan Antonio Leyva and Descemer Bueno. Likewise, she participated in recordings with the maestros Joaquín Betancourt, Juan Manuel Ceruto and Lucía Huergo.

This singer of exceptional quality became known as a soloist in Cuba for "Tanta soledad," the theme song of the Cuban telenovela Bajo el mismo sol, although she had been performing sporadically in some spaces as a guest.

In 2012 she consolidated her career with the creation of her band. She has participated in very important concerts and her first solo album was recorded with EGREM and produced by Descemer Bueno. This album contains music for all kinds of audiences and featured guests such as Rodney Barreto, Gastón Joya, Alejandro Falcón and Descemer himself.

Once again, the creators of the Cuban telenovela Tierras de Fuego entrusted her with the theme song of the television production, which is enjoyed in her voice.

She is passionate about many and very diverse rhythms such as African music, Indian music, World Music, pop, rock, rumba, bolero, trovadoresca, among others. She has a special affection for The Beatles, and performs their songs with a very personal vision, influenced by jazz, reggae, blues and with a touch of very Caribbean music.

Luna Manzanares stands out among the variety of Cuban singers for her soft, rhythmic, natural voice. She enjoys the lyrics, savors each word, tone, pause, each instrumental solo; and definitely, she feeds herself with music.

In 2016 she starred, under the baton of British director Christopher Renshaw and script by him and Norge Espinoza, in the first Cuban musical "Carmen la Cubana", with which she has performed in theaters such as Culture Square in Shanghai, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Sadler's Wells in London, the Chatelet in Paris, among others. For this role she holds the title Chevalier des Artes e Lettres of the French Republic and the medal of the Distinction for National Culture of the Republic of Cuba.

This passage through the musical has been an arduous process of preparation, accompanied by many hours of study in acting, dance, choreography, expression and physical effort. She believes that the family influence helped her again here, as her mother is a theater director. When this Carmen spectacle came into her life in 2014, for two years in a row she went to Broadway to take acting classes and even classical ballet. You have to master technical elements as an essential complementary knowledge.

A leading role like Carmen in a musical based on a tragedy, with a fairly solid dramatic weight, with two and a half hours in duration, is logically very complex. Carmen is on stage almost the entire time and that raises the rigor of the production and concentration.

Luna is a believer and in an interview expressed: "Faith is the greatest thing that can exist. You have to believe in something, in yourself, a saint, in God, in a stone. A human being without faith is nothing"

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