Carlos Mena

Countertenor Carlos Mena's repertory extends from the Baroque to 19th and 20th century works. Featured on more than 50 albums, he is also an important educator.

Mena was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain's Basque country in 1971. In his home city, he attended the Conservatorio Superior de Música Jesús Guridi. After master classes with <a href="spotify:artist:5T8xTmNbPuKAv40XWHZkWh">Charles Brett</a>, he moved to Basel, Switzerland, for studies at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. His principal teachers there were <a href="spotify:artist:3hwPQDlJr99FzncxqZD2SU">René Jacobs</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:16mPkzuNqBAUIsSQhbbICl">Richard Levitt</a>. Mena received his diploma in 1997 and soon found opportunities to perform with such leading early music groups as the <a href="spotify:artist:31UpASs8WklOdK5tfVTRjb">Ricercar Consort</a>, the <a href="spotify:artist:3IOcGJbmYW8hnzDkJMxrRg">Ensemble Gilles Binchois</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:12dyM6LmsQwfdoqO3UnQ9d">Al Ayre Español</a>. After appearing with several ensembles on recordings of the 1990s, he made his solo debut in 2001 with the album Lágrimas Corriendo on the <a href="spotify:artist:4sa9NcYBOQQqUCE40TEYDb">Almaviva</a> label. The following year, he was featured on the <a href="spotify:artist:31UpASs8WklOdK5tfVTRjb">Ricercar Consort</a> album De Æternitate on the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mirare%22">Mirare</a> label. That album earned a Diapason d'Or award in France, and Mena made several more albums for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mirare%22">Mirare</a> over the next few years.

Mena has a large repertory of Baroque opera roles, including the lead in <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a>'s Radamisto, Speranza in <a href="spotify:artist:5iAhVgz6P8Nylxijb0C65v">Monteverdi</a>'s L'Orfeo, and Disinganno in <a href="spotify:artist:1QL7yTHrdahRMpvNtn6rI2">Handel</a>'s allegory Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno. His interests extend to 20th century music, and he has appeared in <a href="spotify:artist:1Z3fF5lZdCM0ZHugkGoH8s">John Cage</a>'s Europera 5. As a concert artist, Mena is in demand internationally; he has appeared in various Western European countries, North and South America, Australia, and Japan, often with top conductors. In addition to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Mirare%22">Mirare</a>, Mena has recorded for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Harmonia+Mundi%22">Harmonia Mundi</a>, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Glossa%22">Glossa</a>, and <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Na%C3%AFve%22">Naïve</a>, among other labels. Mena moved to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Sony+Classical%22">Sony Classical</a> in 2023, appearing with the ensemble La Madrileña in the recital Dixerunt. Mena had been widely active as an educator. Since 1998, he has taught at the Academia de Música Antigua at the University of Salamanca, Spain. In 2018, he joined the faculty at Musikex, the Extremadura School of Music (Cáceres, Spain), and he is also a member of the faculty at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Northwestern Switzerland. Mena has served as a visiting professor at the Teatro Real de Madri, the University of Alfonso X in Madrid, the University of Alcalá de Henaries, and various music schools in Spain and beyond. ~ James Manheim, Rovi