He later attended the Madrid Royal Conservatory, where his teachers included Carmelo Bernaola (composition and orchestration) and Enrique García Asensio (conducting).

[1] Mena served as principal guest conductor of the Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa from 2007 to 2010.

[6] Mena and the BBC Philharmonic have commercially recorded music of Gabriel Pierné,[7] Manuel de Falla,[8] and of Xavier Montsalvatge[9] for the Chandos label.

In 2016, the Orquesta Nacional de España named Mena its new 'Director Asociado' (principal guest conductor).

[10] In October 2016, the Cincinnati May Festival announced the appointment of Mena as its new principal conductor, effective with the 2017–2018 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.