On 25 January 2024, the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern announced the appointment of Josep Pons as its new Chief Conductor and Artistic Director. He would take up the position at the beginning of the 2025/26 season, succeeding Finnish conductor Pietari Inkinen, who had led the orchestra since 2017.
The appointment opened a new chapter in an artistic relationship dating back to 2006, when Josep Pons first conducted the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken, one of the predecessor ensembles of today’s Deutsche Radio Philharmonie. Their subsequent collaborations included appearances at the Ludwig van Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, the opening concert of the 2017 Saar Music Festival, and performances with violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann in Saarbrücken and Mannheim.
The repertoire explored together over the years reflected the breadth of their musical partnership: from Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann and Bruckner to Debussy, Ravel, Spanish music, Alban Berg’s Violin Concerto and contemporary works by Mauricio Sotelo and Benet Casablancas. This shared experience allowed the new period to begin with a deep understanding of the orchestra and its artistic development.
Josep Pons approached the position with the aim of developing a project that would explore new relationships between the orchestra and society. The Deutsche Radio Philharmonie particularly highlighted his ability to create programmes around clearly defined themes, engage with the major questions of contemporary life and reflect on changing concert formats and audience habits. Inspiring children and young people through music was also identified as a central priority.
His appointment continued a distinguished conducting tradition that includes Hans Zender, Myung-Whun Chung, Marcello Viotti and Pietari Inkinen. During the 2025/26 season, Josep Pons would combine his new responsibilities in Germany with the final year of his tenure as Music Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu, scheduled to conclude in July 2026.
The appointment therefore marked the beginning of a major new orchestral project in his career, founded on long-term collaboration, the development of a distinctive artistic identity and a desire to reconsider the role of the orchestra in twenty-first-century European cultural life.