Joan Manén and his father arrived in Buenos Aires in August, 1893 and soon made new friends. Manén managed to play several recitals, as well as an orchestral concert at the “Teatro Ondarribia” and they had great success, which brought them important economic benefits. On one of these occasions, the young violinist was brave enough to stand before an orchestra for the first time as a conductor, without having the slightest knowledge of conducting. The success in Buenos Aires brought them contracts for several recitals in Montevideo. Manén also continued to play the piano, which was his preferred instrument at the time, both because he found it more complete and because it liberated him from the pressure put on him by his father and his obligations. On occasion, he would surprise the audience by sitting down at the piano for the concert encores and play a Chopin “Nocturne” or a Schumann “Novelette”. Meanwhile, his father continued giving his son advice regarding his violin playing, despite not having any knowledge of violin technique. He pointed out the errors - bowing, articulation, or timbre problems - but without knowing how to solve them. After the concerts in Uruguay, they decided to return to Barcelona and on the way they go by Genoa to meet Camillo Sivori, the only disciple of Niccolò Paganini. The young violinist played for the master and once the audition had finished, Sivori declared: "Let him work the way he wants, he will find the way himself because he is born to be a violinist." (Mis experiencias, vol. 1, p. 62).
After a few months in Barcelona and a temporary return to his lessons with Clemente Ibarguren, Joan Manén and his father went on a new tour in early 1894, this time headed for Cuba and Mexico. In Havana, Manén gave four concerts at “Teatro Albisu” with great result and a fifth concert at “Teatro Payret” in which, apart from playing the violin, he conducted the hymn "Gloria a España" by Anselm Clavé before an orchestra and choir of more than 200 people. After numerous successful performances in Mexico, a businessman proposed a twenty-concert tour of the United States with economic conditions that Manén’s father deemed suspicious and, rejecting the proposal, he decided to instead try his luck as an entrepreneur in the big city. Once in New York, however, the father quickly realized that his business man skills were not enough to attract the attention of programmers or the New York press and, after two weeks with no results, ended up funding his own concert at Fifth Avenue Hall. The result of the concert was less than expected and having reached a dead end, they finally decided to return to Barcelona.
Joan Manén Abellán, a man with an extravagant and authoritarian personality, was very critical of his son's talent, but at the same time trustful since he intuited the boy’s potential. After their return to Barcelona, he decided that his son would continue studying the violin without any further advice from teachers, which meant that Manén had to sharpen his ingenuity and intuitively search for resources to develop his technique and solve any arising issues. During the stay in Barcelona, ??his father also decided that Manén should start composing, despite the boy not having sufficient knowledge of harmony. Manén’s first work dates from this period and is a transcription of a showroom piece: the jota from Fernández Caballero's "El duo de la Africana".
They received a letter from New York in August, 1894, in which the promoter Leon Margulies offered them a fifty-concert contract in the United States over the course of five months, thanks to the efforts of a previously known businessman. Without hesitation they accepted the proposal and, before embarking again for America, Manén gave some recitals in Madrid and Paris. They perform at “Teatro de la Comedia” and the Zozaya Music Shop where they play the Fantasy "Faust" by Wieniawski, some movements from Lalo's Spanish Symphony and Manén’s transcription of "El duo de la Africana". While in Madrid, Manén was fortunate enough to be heard by important musicians such as Manuel Fernández Caballero, author of the jota that he had transcribed, and Isaac Albéniz, who offered his praise and full support.