Biography
Enrique Pina has, in his young career, been exciting audiences throughout Italy and Latin America with a robust, lyric tenor noted for its burnished timbre, secure tone, and exquisite phrasing in the Italian style that evokes memories of the great singers of an earlier generation.
Mr. Pina began his career in his native Dominican Republic at the Teatro Nacional of Santo Domingo, where he sang a number of roles before he moved to Italy for vocal and musical studies, including six years under the tutelage of the legendary Franco Corelli. He subsequently appeared in Italy as Nemorino in L’Elisir d’Amore in Rome at the Teatro Argentina and the Fondazione Aletti. During this period, he made return visits to Santo Domingo to sing Nemorino at the Teatro Nacional, and also appeared in Guatemala as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly and Alfredo in La Traviata at the Municipal Theatre of Quetzaltenango and, in Ecuador, as Alfredo at the Teatre Sucre.
After several years in the diplomatic corps during which he continued his studies Mr. Pina re-emerged as a robust lyric tenor assaying the roles of Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera, Don Jose in Carmen, Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor in various venues in the New York City area, in Michigan, and in Florida. Sacco in Anton Coppola’s Sacco e Vanzetti in Tampa, Florida.
He has also been active on the concert stage, recently as featured soloist in a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City and with the National Symphony Orchestra in Santo Domingo, during the inauguration of the new President of the Dominican Republic, as well as a series of concerts in Washington D.C. for the Embassy of the European Union, ExxonMobil, and the Organization of American States and Verdi’s Requiem at the First Cathedral of the Americas in Santo Domingo. An avid recital artist, Mr. Pina has performed worldwide at venues including the Spanish Palace, the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See, the British Embassy of Rome, the Vatican’s Saint Peter’s Basilica, and was invited to sing at the Coliseum in Rome during United Nations Day. Mr. Pina was also invited by the Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Doctor Cyril Svoboda, to give a benefit concert for Butterfly, the Asylum for Handicapped Children in the city of Prague.
His discography includes a compact disc of opera arias, sacred pieces and Latin American songs in the Vatican Radio Studios. He has appeared in several Italian television broadcasts including a concert on the National Italian Television (RAI).
Conductors with whom he has worked include Anton Coppola, Robert Lyall, Anthony Morss,Greg Ortega, Jose Antonio Molina, Carlo Piantini, Domingo Ceron, Mons. Pablo Colino, Gianpaolo Bracali, Lucy Arner, Joan Dorneman, Giovanni Reggioli, and Steven Crawford.
Mr. Pina holds a a Doctorate in Political Science at La Sapienza University in Italy. He is fluent in English, Italian French and Spanish, and is proficient in Portuguese. He currentlystudies with several coaches and conductors of the Metropolitan Opera, and was a featured artist for The Metropolitan Opera Guild’s “Coaching in the Big Leagues” Master Class.
Mr. Pina’s numerous public service awards include the Military Order of Malta with the Cross of Commander to the Maltese Merit. On January 2005 Enrique Pina was decorated by Pope John Paul II with the Cross of Equestrian Commander with Silver Coinage of the Order of Saint Gregorius Magnus. In 2009, he was awarded 2nd place in the New Jersey Association of Verismo Opera Competition, which took place at Carnegie Hall.