Manuel Ochoa made his musical debut in his hometown at the age of seventeen, conducting Verdi's Il Trovatore.
As music director of the Sociedad Coral, Ochoa presented international renowned artists such as the Vienna Boys Choir, with whom he began a close and longstanding collaboration.
This relationship served as inspiration to create the Niños Cantores de la Habana for Cardinal Archbishop Monsignor Manuel Arteaga.
[1] After studying and working in Cuba, Spain, Vienna, and Rome, Ochoa settled in Miami following the Cuban Revolution.
He was among the first of Miami's Cuban exile artists to see the creative opportunities that the city could offer as the gateway of the Americas.