In 1985, among Manén’s first concerts in the US, was the performance at Carnegie Hall on the 15th of January, where he played the Andante from the Spanish Symphony by Edouard Lalo, accompanied by the New York Symphony Orchestra under Walter Damrosch. On the 30th of March he performed again at Carnegie Hall with the same orchestra and the same conductor at a benefit concert. During his stay in New York, Manén discovered Wagner's operas and attended concerts by Eugene Ysaÿe. His father was impressed by Ysaÿe’s performances and managed to get the Belgian artist to listen to his son. Instigated by his father, Manén also began composing original small-format works during this time, such as Romanza Española and Studio di Concierto, both immediately published by a New York publishing house.
After finishing the concerts promoted by Leon Margulies in the United States, Manén, accompanied by both his father and his mother, began a long journey of over 18 months (April 1895 - December 1896), bent on making a name for himself in Central and South American countries: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. During the trip the family endured risky adventures, persevering in a pipe-dream struggle to show off their son’s talent in auditoriums, small salons or even acting as the opening act for different theatre shows. The father often accompanied his son on the piano. Manén also began studying Paganini's most difficult works, while continuing to compose pieces for violin and piano for his concerts, among them the Romancita op. 7, written and premiered in Venezuela, August, 1896. During his long stay in Mexico he composed some large-format works such as the Concerto Mexicano for violin and orchestra or the Oxtonia Symphony. These works were later removed from his catalogue since he considered that they exposed his juvenile ignorance, stemming from a lack of formal training, while other works, such as the Capricho Catalán nº1 Añorança for violin and orchestra, were included in his definitive catalogue after some rewriting.
After the nomadic experience of a long tour in the south, filled with atrocities, the family returned to New York to reunite with friends such as Fermín Toledo, manager of the Aeolian Company. During December 1896 and January 1897 Manén performed six concerts, four accompanied by an Aeolian organ with rolls drilled expressly for the occasion, and two concerts in Boston and Troy. At the Boston concert, he received the following review: "His technique, despite being surprisingly good for his youth at times, is not as well rounded as that of other child prodigies we have heard. But this child is indisputably more musical in terms of musical rhythm, expression and phrasing. He plays with great feeling and less extravagance than some of his rivals, and he performs with great sobriety, without archaism, without the intolerable bravery that characterizes so many child violinists and pianists."
Finally, after nearly two years abroad, the family returned to Barcelona in March, 1897. During that year Manén performed several times in his city, including a concert on the 28th of October at “Teatre Líric”. He composed two important works that he would later rewrite: the Concierto Español and the Capricho Catalán nº2 "Aplech", both for violin and orchestra. The young violinist, now 14 years old, had his eyes set on a new path for musical development: moving to Berlin, the city where the most enriching and decisive phase of his artistic flourishing would take place.