Zarzuela "Amalia Batista"
In 1776, Diddone abbandonata premiered in Havana, and this represented the beginning of opera in Havana, and in the 19th century Havana was even the location for some Hemisphere premieres of European operas.
Havana even became known as the Philharmonic Capital of the New World.
Some greats who sang at the Gran Teatro de Tacon, now the Gran Teatro de La Habana are Titta Ruffo, Claudia Muzio, Enrico Caruso, Gabriela Besanzoni, Adelina Patti, and Riccardo Stracciari.
In 1928, the Teatro Auditorium became the home to some of the most important opera performances of the following decades: the Cuban premiere of Tristan und Isolde, with Kirsten Flagstad; Don Carlos, with Adriana Lecouvreur, and Cilea, with Renata Tebaldi.
The theater was also home to zarzuela, or Spanish light opera. In 1962 the National Lyric Theater of Cuba was inaugurated, and later on, the Leipzig Opera came with touring productions of Mozart, Beethoven, Cimarosa and Paisiello. In the 70's, the Lyrica Theater toured Eastern Europe with a touring production of the most famous Cuban opera, "Cecilia Valdes"; in the 80's they premiered the original opera Ecue Yamba-O by Sánchez Ferrer.
"Porgy and Bess" was one of their most recent productions, which also toured Austria and Spain. Some well-known Cuban opera singers working abroad are Alina Sanchez, Linda Mirabal, Maria Lourdes García, Mayda Galano, Angel Cardenas, and Teresa Guerra; Lucy Ferrero and Humberto Diez work in Venezuela, while the rest work in Colombia.
