Luis Santana

Set into the Bulgarian cast for the State Opera Rousse's Spanish tour of Carmen in the autumn of 2013, the baritone Luis Santana was one of a group of Spanish soloists engaged for the run, singing beside Belén Elvira, Guillermo Orozco, Carmen Serrano, Javier Aguiló, Conchi Moyano and Sergi Carreras on a tour whose October leg covered nine towns in nine days. Born in Zamora, Santana left the city at thirteen, first for Madrid and then for Paris. Teresa Berganza taught him, and he names her with Paloma Gomez Borrero and Nati Mistral among the three women who shaped him; he travelled with Montserrat Caballe and has sung with her daughter Montserrat Marti. He made debuts at the Teatro Real and the Liceu, sang the Missa in tempore belli in the Basilica del Pilar before the Spanish royal family, the Mozart Requiem under Placido Domingo, and at the birthday Mass of Pope Francis in Rome. In 2013 he directed the company Operisima, which mounted the Carmen run with the Rousse house. In June 2026 he was named the winner of the Premio Tierras de Zamora as Embajador.