Born in Madrid on March 16, 1933, this singer quickly distinguished herself among the disciples of Lola Rodríguez de Aragón. In 1954 she won the first Career Final Prize. Gifted with a voice without fissures or inequalities, from the first moment she was noted in some zarzuela recordings, but above all for her intelligence in the use of singing resources, for her seductive timbre and for the perfection in all the interpretations she he has done all of them since he began to sing professionally, in the area that we call “belio canto”.
He caused a sensation at the 1957 Aix-en-Provence Festival, and at the Glyndebourne Festival, where he sang the role of Cherubino from Le nozze di Figaro. She sang in important European theaters, especially at the Vienna State Opera, and was also chosen by London’s Covent Garden (1963) in the original version of Rossin’s Barbiere di Siviglia, and in numerous recordings and films of this repertoire, beginning with La italiano in Algeri, by Rossini, filmed with Sesto Bruscantini.
For years she lavished herself in the Mozart and Rossinian repertoires, composers whose vocals she captured with rare excellence, and with whom she caused a sensation in Dallas, where she would also sing Cherubini’s Medea with Maria Callas. Another first-class Rossinian role of his was La Cenerentola, the opera that the Liceo impresario, J.A.Pàmias, commissioned from him for his debut at the Liceo, which took place in February 1971, but he did not return much to this theater or to that of the Zarzuela de Madrid, he never sang at Real, which in those years was closed.
At the Colón in Buenos Aires he premiered La clemenza di Tito, by Mozart, which he sang shortly after at the Palau de la Música in Barcelona. He also sang Le nozze di Figaro at the Paris Opera and at the Scala in Milan. He later added to his repertoire operas by Händel, Cavalli, Cesti and other baroque authors.
She returned to Vienna in 1977 with La clemenza di Tito and in 1979 she played the role of Zerlina in Joseph Losey’s film about Don Giovanni.
It was heard for three seasons (1973, 1976 and 1979) at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. She gave recitals in numerous theaters, almost always accompanied by her faithful pianist and husband, and tried to promote her soprano daughter, Cecilia Lavilla.
He expanded the repertoire with Carmen de Bizet under the baton of Claudio Abbado, in a role that became his own. In 2002 he returned to the Gran Teatro del Liceo for a recital, where he was given an extensive interview by Marcel Gorgori and the one he signs.
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