Marta Escolástica de los Ángeles Pérez Suárez

She was born in Havana in the Jesús del Monte neighborhood. Her parents were children of Cubans and Spaniards. The couple had four children: Lila, Marta, Francisco, and Alberto.

Marta began her career presenting herself as a child star on various radio programs and making artistic tours throughout the interior of the island. In 1935, she began studying piano and taking singing lessons with Polish professor Maryla Granaowska. Four years later, she joined the choir of the Havana Philharmonic under the direction of Paul Csonka. He would recommend her to maestro Máximo Freccia, director of the Philharmonic, who immediately selected her as a soloist.

During her nine years with the Philharmonic, Marta sang under the direction of such important musicians as Eric Kleiber and Herbert von Karajan. She also achieved success at the Teatro Martí during a season offered by the Spanish company "Cabalgata". In 1945, she would return to CMQ where she had worked as a child as an exclusive artist.

In 1946, Marta Pérez was invited to visit "La Comparsa", the estate of Ernesto Lecuona. The composer, enthusiastic about her talent, invited her to accompany him on a tour of the United States that lasted several months and included performances at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Constitutional Hall in Washington, and the Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Among the starring roles she performed during her career are: María la O, El Cafetal, and Rosa la China, three of Lecuona's most important zarzuelas.

In 1948, Marta Pérez was selected by maestro Gonzalo Roig to record the masterpiece of Cuban lyric theater: his zarzuela Cecilia Valdés. The work, premiered in 1932, had been sung by figures of the stature of Caridad Suárez, Rita Montaner, and Zoraida Marrero, but would find its definitive voice in Marta's interpretation. The record, recorded at Radiocentro, went on sale the following year; it was an immediate success and has never stopped being printed. Cecilia Valdés, the quintessential character of Marta Pérez, made her an artist of international standing and opened the doors to some of the world's principal theaters.

On October 24, 1950, Gaspar Pumarejo officially inaugurated television in Cuba. On March 12, 1951, the Mestre brothers inaugurated CMQ Televisión, the competition. Among the images that immediately dazzled the television audience was that of this woman who could boast not only of voice and musicality, but also of dramatic talent and great stage presence.

Marta Pérez triumphed in the principal spaces of Cuban television, among them: El Cabaret Regalías, Gran Teatro Lírico, Miércoles de Amor Palmolive, Gran Teatro Esso, Jueves de Partagás, and she had her own program: Marta Pérez y sus canciones.

In 1954, Marta Pérez was invited to travel to Switzerland to audition before Herbert von Karajan and Dr. Ghiringhelli, director of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, who immediately offered her a scholarship. On May 26, 1955, Marta became the first and only Cuban to sing at this theater, the world center of opera, performing the role of Preziosilla in La Forza del Destino by Giuseppe Verdi alongside Renata Tebaldi and Giuseppe di Stefano.

A year later, Tebaldi herself would request that Marta perform alongside her again in another production of La Forza del Destino in the United States. At La Scala, Marta also sang three performances of Cavalleria Rusticana with Giulietta Simionato.

Throughout her career, she has performed, among others, the operas Così fan tutte, The Rape of Lucretia, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Suor Angelica, The Bat, Rigoletto, The Medium, Carmen, and El amor brujo under the direction of José Iturbi and Alberto Bolet.

In October 1960, Marta Pérez renounced the privileged position she had achieved on her country's stages and took the uncertain path of exile. Months later, she would perform at Carnegie Hall in New York performing the title role of Cecilia Valdés under the direction of Alfredo Munar. The success was such that Rudolf Bing, the all-powerful director of the Metropolitan Opera House, became interested in her, and on July 17, 1965, the work was presented at the Lewisohn Stadium in New York during the Metropolitan's summer season, before more than 18,000 people.

In the United States she performed several times at Lincoln Center and Town Hall in New York; she made her Broadway debut in the musical Infidel Caesar; she had seasons with the Connecticut and Oklahoma opera companies; gave concerts in the principal cities of the country and participated in some of the top programs of American television, among them the shows of Mitch Miller, Rudy Vallee, and Steve Allen.

The culmination would be three appearances on the most popular show of the time, The Ed Sullivan Show. Marta's triumphs between 1959 and 1966 are many: she sings at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires and at the Teatro de Bellas Artes in Mexico; tours Germany, Spain, and England with maestro Alberto Bolet; and with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1967, Marta Pérez, Miguel De Grandy II, Pili de la Rosa, and Demetrio Menéndez founded the Sociedad Pro Arte Grateli in Miami, an institution that over several decades has carried out intense work in favor of culture, presenting great figures in the most important works of Spanish and Cuban lyric theater; musical comedies, concerts, and dramatic works.

In addition to participating in numerous concerts, Marta has played the leading roles in La verbena de la paloma, Luisa Fernanda, Los gavilanes, La dolorosa, Mujeres, La revoltosa, El conde de Luxemburgo, María la O, El cafetal, La viuda alegre, The Sound of Music, The King and I, Doña Francisquita, Los claveles, and, of course, her greatest triumph: Cecilia Valdés.