Director Rafael Sánchez-Araña is leading a zarzuela workshop at the Lyceum Mozartiano in Havana

The renowned Canary Islands director, Rafael Sánchez-Araña, is conducting a zarzuela workshop at the Lyceum Mozartiano in Havana, in collaboration with the University of the Arts of Cuba and the National Lyric Theater of Cuba.

The workshop focuses on the cultural and artistic richness of this theatrical-musical genre, taking on special significance coinciding with the recent declaration of zarzuela as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Until Saturday, March 16th, the maestro is working with musicians from the Lyceum Orchestra, directing and singing students from the University of the Arts, and soloists from the Lyric Theater.

Rafael Sánchez-Araña is the titular director of the Las Palmas Symphony Orchestra and the musical director of the Zarzuela Season of the Canary Islands.

From 2017 to 2023, he served as assistant director to the titular director of the Gran Canaria Philharmonic Orchestra; he conducted the Youth Orchestra of that Spanish island and was a programmer for the School Season of the Philharmonic Orchestra of that territory, where centuries of history and natural spaces of great beauty blend.

Sánchez-Araña obtained the Superior Title in Violin (Castilla y León 2007) and the Superior Title in Choral Conducting (Canary Islands 2012), as highlighted in the press release.

From 2012 to 2017, he studied orchestral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, under the chairmanship of maestro Karl Heinz Bloemeke, and at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden, under the chairmanship of maestro Georg Christoph Sandmann, where he obtained a Master’s degree in orchestral conducting.

The workshop will conclude at the Oratorio San Felipe Neri, with a program titled Soul of Zarzuela, featuring soloists from the National Lyric Theater of Cuba, university singing students, and the Lyceum Orchestra of Havana under the direction of Sánchez-Araña.

Translated by Luis E. Amador Dominguez