Bernabé Martí

14 November 1928 Villaroya de la Sierra – 18 March 2022 Barcelona

Bernabé Martí sings Don Carlo:

È dessa, with Montserrat Caballé

Bernabé Martí sings L'Africaine:

O paradiso

In RA format

Bernabé Martí sings Andrea Chénier:

Vicino a te, with Montserrat Caballé

In RA format

Bernabé Martí sings Turandot:

Nessun dorma

In RA format

Bernabé Martí sings Luisa Fernanda:

Caballero del alto plumero, with Montserrat Caballé

In RA format

His real name, which he still used during the first years of his career, was Bernabé Martínez Remacha. From a peasant family and working as a goatherd in his childhood, he learned to play the saxophone in his hometown, then studied voice in Zaragoza, at the Conservatorio Real in Madrid, the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Accademia Chigiana in Siena, and with Mercedes Llopart in Milano.

He made his debut in 1956 at the Teatro Principal in Zaragoza. His first major success came in Granada in 1958, in La vida breve, his first appearance abroad in Düsseldorf as Narraboth. In 1961, he was at the Liceu in Barcelona for the first time; he was to appear there regularly for the next ten years.

Guest appearances at the New York City Opera, in Philadelphia, Chicago, Miami, Hartford, San Antonio, at the New York Met (two performances as Pollione in 1976), in Kansas City, Houston, Dallas and Washington; at the Colón in Buenos Aires, in Mexico City, Caracas, Lima and Santiago de Chile; in Valencia, Bilbao, London, at the Paris Opéra, in Venice and in Budapest.

He sang a wide repertory: Gualtiero (Il pirata), Roberto Devereux, Macduff, Duca, Manrico, Riccardo, Enzo Grimaldo, Hoffmann, Don José, both des Grieux, Pinkerton, Cavaradossi, Dick Johnson, Calaf, Canio...

Martí was married to Montserrat Caballé. His career slowed down in the 1970s due to health problems (lung problems, more precisely). He retired in 1985.

Reference 1, reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens

I would like to thank Thomas Silverbörg for the recordings.

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