Biography
Josep Pons, a conductor from Catalonia, has displayed striking versatility across his career, moving fluidly between historically informed performance and new music while forging a sustained link with Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu from the late 1990s onward.
Born in the modest Catalonian town of Puig-reig, Pons gained his earliest musical experience as a member of the Escolania de Montserrat, the boys’ choir attached to the monastery near Barcelona, where he acquired foundational training. Later, in Barcelona itself, he pursued conducting studies with Antoni Ros-Marbà and composition lessons with Josep Soler, acquiring a solid command of both early polyphony and contemporary idioms that would shape his mature work. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he led several prominent regional ensembles in Catalonia. In 1985 he helped establish the Chamber Orchestra of the Lliure Theater in Barcelona—an ensemble whose name belied its exclusive focus on concert repertoire and whose activities centered on contemporary scores; the group produced recordings of music by Mompou, Falla, and Stravinsky as well as works by living Catalonian composers. He simultaneously directed the Coral Càrmina, which assumed the role of choir for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1987. Pons served as musical director for the Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992. The next year he took charge of the Catalonia Youth Symphony, later known as the Catalonia National Youth Symphony, remaining in that post until 2001; for most of the same period he also led the City of Granada Symphony (1994–2004). In subsequent decades he has appeared frequently as a guest conductor both within Spain and abroad. At the Gran Teatre del Liceu he advanced from assistant conductor to music director in 2010, overseeing several world premieres of contemporary operas at the house.
On disc, Pons has maintained a close association with the Harmonia Mundi label, committing to record, among other projects, music by Italian film composer Nino Rota with the City of Granada Symphony as well as additional Spanish repertoire. In 2019 he conducted Granados’ opera Goyescas for the same label with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. His honors include the City of Barcelona Award in 1992 and Spain’s National Prize for Music in 1999.
Born in the modest Catalonian town of Puig-reig, Pons gained his earliest musical experience as a member of the Escolania de Montserrat, the boys’ choir attached to the monastery near Barcelona, where he acquired foundational training. Later, in Barcelona itself, he pursued conducting studies with Antoni Ros-Marbà and composition lessons with Josep Soler, acquiring a solid command of both early polyphony and contemporary idioms that would shape his mature work. During the late 1980s and early 1990s he led several prominent regional ensembles in Catalonia. In 1985 he helped establish the Chamber Orchestra of the Lliure Theater in Barcelona—an ensemble whose name belied its exclusive focus on concert repertoire and whose activities centered on contemporary scores; the group produced recordings of music by Mompou, Falla, and Stravinsky as well as works by living Catalonian composers. He simultaneously directed the Coral Càrmina, which assumed the role of choir for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra beginning in 1987. Pons served as musical director for the Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992. The next year he took charge of the Catalonia Youth Symphony, later known as the Catalonia National Youth Symphony, remaining in that post until 2001; for most of the same period he also led the City of Granada Symphony (1994–2004). In subsequent decades he has appeared frequently as a guest conductor both within Spain and abroad. At the Gran Teatre del Liceu he advanced from assistant conductor to music director in 2010, overseeing several world premieres of contemporary operas at the house.
On disc, Pons has maintained a close association with the Harmonia Mundi label, committing to record, among other projects, music by Italian film composer Nino Rota with the City of Granada Symphony as well as additional Spanish repertoire. In 2019 he conducted Granados’ opera Goyescas for the same label with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. His honors include the City of Barcelona Award in 1992 and Spain’s National Prize for Music in 1999.
Albums
de Pablo: Figura en el Mar - Melisma Furioso - Senderos del Aire - World Premier Recordings (Digitally Remastered)
2011
Melancolía - Spanish Arias and Songs
2011
Falla: La Vida Breve
1998
Música Sinfónica Española Contemporanea. Vol.1
1996
Pons: Chamber Music
1995
Live
