Carlos Mena was born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain (1971). He studied the Interndiplom specialising in Rennaissance/Baroque music at the prestigious Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) in Basel (Switzerland) where he was supervised by his maestros R. Levitt and R. Jacobs.
As a soloist, he performs regulary with Hesperion XX, (J. Savall), Il Seminario Musicale (G. Lesne), Ricercar Consort, Collegium Vocale Gent (P. Pierlot), Ensemble Vocal Lausanne (M.Corboz), Concerto Italiano (R. Alessandrini), Akademie für Alte Musik, Concerto Vocale (R. Jacobs), Europa Galante (F. Biondi), Ensemble Baroque de Limoges (C. Coin), Ensemble 415 (C.Banchini), American Bach Soloist (J. Thomas), Wiener Akademie (M. Haselböck), Ciudad de Granada Orchestra, Basque Symphony, Bilbao Symphony, Gran Canaria Philarmonic, Madrid Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Baroque Orchestra of Sevilla, Gulbenkian Symphony.
He has sung for audiences around the world in renowned places such as the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Konzerthaus and Musikverein in Vienna, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Sidney Opera House, Concert Hall in Melbourne, Alice Tully Hall in New York, Fisher Symphony Hall in Detroit, Suntory Hall and City Opera Hall in Tokyo, Osaka Symphony Hall, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires...
He records for DECCA, ACCORD, DHM, Glossa and Alia Vox. His recitals “De Aeternitate” for Mirare with Ricercar Consort have won several prices such as 10 de Repertoire, Classica, Choc de Le Monde de la Musique, CD Compact, Scherzo, Diapason D’Or de l’anné 2002 as the best baroque recital; “Vespro per voce sola” (Naïve) has won ffff Telerama and “Et Iesum” (Harmonia Mundi) best CD 2004 of CD Compact, Editor’s Choice Gramophon, Internet Classical Award 2004. Recently he has recorded “Stabat Mater” (Mirare) that has already the prices “10” of Repertoire and “Choc” of Le Monde, “La cantada española en América” (HM) Excepcional Scherzo, “Stabat Mater” Pergolesi (HM).
In 1997 he played Orfeo in “Orfeo ed Euridice” by Ch. W. Gluck at the Teatro Guaira in Brazil, in 2001 in “Rappresentazione di Anima e di Corpo” by E. Cavalieri (Angelo Custode) at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels (J. ubery), in 2002 in “Radamisto” by G.F. Haendel (Radamisto) at Salzburger Festspiele (M. Haselböck), Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Musikverein Vienna, in 2003 “L’Orfeo” by C. Monteverdi (Speranza) in the Innsbruck Festspiele Festival, at the Staatsoper Berlin (R. Jacobs), and in 2004 “Il Trionfo” (Disinganno) by Händel in Salzburger Pfingstenfestspieler. He sung in Vlaanderen Festival Europera5 by J. Cage. In 2005 he sings “Oberon” in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by B. Britten in Teatro Real in Madrid.
Carlos Mena has also sung several programms for the Spanish National Dance Company, in particular his outstanding performance of Vivaldi’s recital “Castratto” coreographed by N.Duato. He has also recorded the theme music for the film “Stille Nacht” by D.Levi.
Besides, he is also involved in broadening his repertoire and has shown a deep interest in researching and perfroming the Lied repertoire (Schubert, Schumann...) and 20th-century music (Orff,Aracil, Bernaola, Strawinsky, Berstein and Britten...)
Next projects are CD for HM “Paisajes del Recuerdo” XX century basque music, XVII century italian music in Vienna for Mirare, “Viaje a Simorgh” by Sánchez-Verdú in Teatro Real de Madrid, “Death in Venice” by Britten in Liceu de Barcelona...