"In each concert I live
an intimate emotion"

JOSEP PONS  ·  CONDUCTOR

Biography



Regarded as the leading Spanish conductor of his generation, Josep Pons has built strong relationships with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and BBC Symphony Orchestra - the latter including several appearances at the BBC Proms. 
In addition to continuing these relationships, the 2016/17 season will see Pons return to City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. He will also debut with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Konzerthausorchester Berlin.

As Music Director of Gran Teatre del Liceu he conducts a number of productions in Barcelona each season, most recently Così fan tutteBenvenuto Cellini, and Siegfried (as part of an ongoing cycle of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen). This season he will give opera performances of Le Nozze di Figaro, Elektra, Don Giovanni. He also holds the position of Honorary Conductor of the Orquesta Nacional de España having previously served as their Artistic Director for nine years during which he substantially raised their international profile. He was Music Director of Orquesta Ciudad de Granada between 1994-2004. 




Josep Pons' discography of over 50 CDs and DVDs, includes recordings of Falla and French repertoire regarded as benchmark interpretations and earning numerous awards. His recording of Noches en los jardines de España with Javier Perianes won a Choc de la Musique, ‘Melancolía’ with Patricia Petibon received a Gramophone Editor's Choice, and his collaboration with Tomatito earned him a Latin Grammy. This season starts with an album release of Berio’s Sinfonia and Mahler/Berio’s 10 Frühe Lieder with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Matthias Goerne, which won Choc de la musique and Ffff Telerama awards and was among the 10 Best CD’s of the year of Presto Classical.

Josep Pons began his musical training at the prestigious Escolanía de Montserrat. The secular tradition and intense study of both Polyphony and contemporary music in this centre marked his later development both musically and intellectually. In 1999 he received the Spanish National Music Prize for his outstanding work on twentieth century music.
His latest album has been recorded by Hamnonia Mundi France with Javier Perianes and the Orchestre de Paris with works by Ravel.

As a muscial director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, he runs numerous productions in Barcelona, where this season has premiered a successful Turandot  commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Liceu and will lead the Lohengrin of Katharina Wagner next March.

Recently, he has been distinguished with the recognition of Doctor honoris causa from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

 

 






 



Reviews

“Josep Pons performs here a kind of symphonic synthesis of the score, addressing the key moments of this human tragedy. He cleverly mixes the purely orchestral passages and those in which the vocal interventions are largely supported by a very active orchestra ... The music direction of Josep Pons ardently emphasizes the work of epic character in a deployment of orchestral dynamics, from the finest pianissimos to the tragic fortissimos.” 

Classic Toulouse, January 2016

​“During the whole concert, Josep Pons is as usual very efficient, the gesture is precise and the orchestra responds perfectly.”

Classique info

“Pons began the programme with a vital and warmhearted account of Stravinsky's Scherzo à la Russe, and created an immaculately textured underlay for Frank Peter Zimmermann's lyrically rhapsodic approach to the Brahms Violin Concerto...”

The Guardian

“Pons isn’t used to working with the SCO, and Falla isn’t a composer they’ve done very often; but exciting results can come from such circumstances, and so it proved tonight with an exciting, throbbing performance of both works that pulsed with Latin life and gleamed with Mediterranean sunlight.”

Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard International

”In this superbly well-played account the smaller-sized BBCSO showed just what a first-class band it is. No little credit in this regard is due to Josep Pons.”

Classical Source

“It was clear that Josep Pons had his own, often very creative, ideas.”

Alan Saunders, Classical Source

"[...] the idiomatic baton of Spanish maestro Josep Pons conjured an air of authenticity. His opening gambit, the brooding Interlude and sizzling Dance from Manuel de Falla's unfairly neglected opera La vida breve, displayed an instinct for subtle grace and building dramatic tension"

Clive Paget, July 2023

"Josep Pons duly brought out the drama of [De Falla's La vida breve's] inicial pages, before heading into a rendition of the main section such as (rightly) predicated suavity over rhetoric, while not lacking for impetus as this music reached its effervescent close"

Richard Whitehouse, July 2023

DISCOGRAPHY