Mario Travieso Rodríguez

Outstanding Cuban tenor, a singer with exceptional vocal abilities who, after more than fifty years of artistic life, remains active. His repertoire includes both operatic pieces of extreme difficulty and popular music compositions.

He was born in Agramonte, Matanzas. From childhood he began singing in his native town, supported by family and friends, with great success from the beginning to the point that in 1947, at only six years old, he was selected by a group of enthusiasts to perform in different towns in Matanzas, in charitable functions aimed at raising funds to complete the construction of the Liceo de Agramonte, which at that time was only half-built and lacked resources for completion. The tour organized by the Lodge in Agramonte was a success, and without question the star of the show was the child who with an angelic voice sang songs like El sombrero cordobés and Granada, among other difficult pieces, but most importantly, the necessary funds were raised to complete the Liceo, leaving the building ready for the enjoyment of the population. Currently, this Liceo is the building that houses the Casa de Cultura of the locality.

Following that first successful tour and faced with requests from entertainment promoters in neighboring towns, in the following years he continued making presentations in theaters, lodges and lyceums, always accompanied by his parents, with great public success.

This success and public recognition, at some point threatened to bring him problems, such as in 1951, when in a theater in Jagüey Grande, where a Spanish variety company was performing, they presented the child singer to entertain and open the show, as the company's main performance was beginning. When it was the main singer's turn, the public began to boo and whistle, demanding the presence of the boy Mario, ending the company's performance in bad spirits, so upset that the next day they filed a complaint in court for having a child contracted to work in the theater. Fortunately for everyone, the accusation did not prosper.

In these performances from that era, the accompanying pianist was almost always Rubén Carrasco.

In 1959, with the revolutionary triumph, Mario returned to his normal life and began studying singing. In Matanzas, he had been recommended to contact Mariana de Gonitch, a Russian singer and professor based in Havana, who was recognized as one of the best music teachers of the time.

At the end of 1959, Mario went to Professor Mariana de Gonitch's house on Calle Santa Emilia number 406, between Páz and Gómez, in Santos Suarez. She heard him sing and admitted him as her student. To receive the classes, he had to travel twice a week from Agramonte to Havana.

His first presentation as a student of Mariana was on a television program, where he sang accompanied by an orchestra directed by Adolfo Guzmán, on July 20, 1960. Exactly one month later, what is recognized as his professional debut took place in the Salón de los Embajadores of the Hotel Habana Hilton (now Habana Libre), where Mariana had planned a special gala in which she performed some pieces from her repertoire and accompanied at the piano Mario Travieso, Martha Cardona, Ana Julia García, Esther Valdés and others. In the audience was Fidel Castro, accompanied by members of his cabinet, as well as some specialized journalists who later published very interesting and laudatory reviews.

When he was fourteen years old, he came to Havana with a friend to perform on José Antonio Alonso's program La Corte Suprema del Arte. Due to a miscalculation in his plans, he arrived a day earlier than expected and, wanting to learn about the world of television, he went to a program that Jose Antonio was recording in the FOCSA studios. It was a participation program where they raffled some prizes and Mario Travieso was one of the lucky ones. When it came time to collect his prize, they asked him to speak before the cameras. He tells them he is from Agramonte in Matanzas and that he is there because the next day he plans to compete in La Corte Suprema del Arte, and Jose Antonio tells him he wants to hear him that night, as a preview, in case he thinks it's not worth the trouble, so as not to waste a night in Havana and spare him the embarrassment of the bell ringing. At eleven o'clock at night he receives him, and with the accompaniment of Isolina Carrillo on the piano, Mario sings Granada and José Antonio Alonso congratulates him and predicts great success in the competition.

The next day he presented himself to the audition and was selected as winner. A week later he presents himself to the second round and is selected as Emerging Star of the CMQ and proposed to begin a career in Havana with that distinction. Upon his return to Agramonte, he was welcomed as a hero by his audience and friends.

For almost three years he maintained performing at least once a month in television presentations in different programs such as "Concierto," directed by Humberto Mitján, Nuestra América, Álbum de Cuba and Escriba y Lea, among others.

In 1961, Mariana called him to what had been the Hornedo house (current Casa de Cultura Joseíto Fernández) on Carlos III and Castillejo, because a group of people wanted to hear him sing and assess his progress. After all, it was an audition to evaluate his admission to a lyric company that was being created at that time, and there were Félix Guerrero, Cuca Rivero and Miguel de Grandy. After hearing him, they propose he join the project, but because he lived outside of Havana, Mario at that moment cannot join and declines the offer.

From 1963 onwards, linked to the Teatro Lírico de Matanzas and through the Provincial Council of Culture, he performed weekly concerts in the different municipalities and in the Teatro Sauto, accompanied by pianists Rubén Gómez Pirez, Agustina Carrera, guitarist Idelfonso Acosta and the Matanzas Symphony Orchestra directed by Rafael Somavilla (father).

On January 1, 1966, he became part of the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, a company with which he debuted in the role of Rosillon in La viuda alegre in 1967.

From the moment of his entry, he began to receive classes from professors who were linked to the company, such as the Bulgarian Kiril Kratsev (singing), Roberto Garriga (dramatic arts), Carlos Aztizaraín (music and Italian) and Enma Norka (music).

During the years he was linked to the TLNC, he participated in several stage productions, both Operas and Operettas and Zarzuelas.

Works in which he participated
Operetta La viuda alegre, by Franz Lehar, (in the role of Rosillon in 1967).
Opera Madame Butterfly, by Giacomo Puccini, (in the roles of Yamadori, in 1969 and Pinkerton in 1971 and 1980)
Opera La traviata by Verdi, (in the role of Alfredo, 1977 and 1980);
Opera Los payasos, by Italian composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo, (in the role of Harlequin in 1982).
Zarzuela La leyenda del beso, by Soutullo,
Zarzuela Luisa Fernanda, by Federico Moreno Torroba;
Cuban Zarzuela La esclava, by José Mauri, (in the role of Arturo, 1979);
Cuban Zarzuela Patria by Hubert de Blanck (in the role of Armando, in 1979 and under the direction of Juan R. Amán);

Awards obtained
In 1970 he was the winner of the First National Singing Competition, sponsored by UNEAC
In 1994 he was selected First Grand Prize of the Spring Festival of PiongYang, Korea.
In 2008 he received the Interpretation Prize in the Félix Guerrero Competition, held at the Teatro Amadeo Roldán.

Tours abroad
In 1968 he traveled to the Soviet Union for seven months. He performed at the Odesa Opera and in Moscow made several presentations at the "Juventud" Hotel, accompanied on stage by singer Jorge Luis Pacheco and pianist Frank Fernández, at that time both students of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
He travels to the Soviet Union again in 1982 to perform in Moscow.
He makes a tour in 1994, beginning with Korea, to participate in the Spring Festival of PiongYang, (where he obtained the First Grand Prize), from there he went to China on a tour through several cities lasting around two months. He performed at the Shanghai Festival and gave performances at the Beijing Concert Hall, the most important concert hall in that region of Asia at that time. Finally, he traveled to the Soviet Union for a month, making several presentations during that time.

Presentations in Community Cultural Projects
On multiple occasions he has been invited to perform in different Cultural Projects and community gatherings where he offers his art selflessly and is applauded for his interpretive quality and the variety of his repertoire. In this way, he has performed not only in the capital but in many cities throughout the country.

The Cultural Project "Echando versos del alma," launched in the first months of 2010 by soloist Alwin Damián and his Representative and Producer at that time, Architect Emilio García Tuero, is developed at the headquarters of the José Martí Cultural Society as part of the community work carried out by this entity.

Conceived as a monthly gathering at the 17 and D location in Vedado, it works to disseminate the best values of Cuban cultural tradition.

In each edition, in addition to its host, other singers and musicians have performed and researchers and specialists have presented lectures on Martí's relationship with the arts. One of the preferred guests, for his artistic quality, for his indisputable merits as a relevant figure in Cuban culture, and specifically for having been the singing teacher of the host Alwin Damián, has been tenor Mario Travieso, being one of the most requested guests by the regular audience of the space.

It is rare to maintain such a fresh voice as tenor Mario Travieso's for more than five decades, with so many years of professional singing work, not to mention his earlier years as an enthusiast, which made him an Emerging Star of La Corte Suprema del Arte, quite a milestone as a communicative phenomenon in Cuban television.

Evidently, the technique and artistic preparation with which, towards the end of 1959, Professor Mariana de Gonitch equipped him would allow it, maintaining those qualities throughout his extensive career.

The qualities that Mario Travieso strengthened through the instruction of Mariana de Gonitch would allow him to obtain the First Prize of the National Singing Competition of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, UNEAC, in 1970.

But also the technical development he achieved was decisive so that on January 1, 1966, he could join the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, where he debuted the following year, being the Rosillon of La viuda alegre.

From his poetic art, which he projected with crystal clarity in concerts and recitals, he would stand out for a timely and conscious handling of dynamics and expression.

In the end, with all the scope of his professional development, he would be far from assuming the mechanical and almost instinctive way in which those who sing or play an instrument limit their expression to schemas like raising or lowering intensity, which a certain perception of greater or lesser physical effort leads them to conceive in such a schematic and impoverishing manner.

Tenor Mario Travieso, starting from a firm foundation in voice placement and emission, would stand out throughout his career for an evident capacity to meter and nuance his singing from an organic and felt conception of expressive musical drama, nothing imposed.

This is how he would be heard between an Arthur Rubinstein song and another by Manuel María Ponce, with such a congruent way of interpreting the music, adding to the climactic point, when appropriate, a charge of suspense with a breath that languishes.

To this type of device is added the intention that has always identified him through an economy that—as he himself would say—is not the result of any parsimony, or making his voice gallop at full lung capacity on other occasions.

Source: Ecured, CMBF