Josep Pons
The Catalonian-Spanish conductor Josep Pons has been a versatile artist whose experience ranges from historical performance to contemporary music. Since the late 1990s he has been associated with the Gran Teatre del Liceu opera house in Barcelona.
Pons was born in the small town of Puig-reig in Spain's Catalonia region. He sang in the Escolania de Montserrat, a boys' choir maintained by a monastery near Barcelona, and there he received basic musical training. In Barcelona he studied conducting with Antoni Ros-Marbà and composition with Josep Soler, obtaining a grounding in both antique polyphony and contemporary music that would remain influential in his adult career. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pons directed several influential local ensembles in Catalonia. In 1985, he co-founded the Chamber Orchestra of the Lliure Theater in Barcelona, which despite its name devoted itself to instrumental music rather than theatrical productions; the group specialized in contemporary music and made recordings of works by Mompou, Falla, and Stravinsky as well as contemporary Catalonian composers. He also directed the Coral Càrmina, which as of 1987 functioned as the choir of the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. Pons served as the musical director of the Barcelona Summer Olympics in 1992. The following year, he assumed the directorship of the Catalonia Youth Symphony, later renamed the Catalonia National Youth Symphony; he remained there until 2001, for most of that time also conducting the City of Granada Symphony (1994-2004). In the 2000s and 2010s, he has made numerous guest conducting appearances both in and outside of Spain. Pons also began working as assistant conductor at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, becoming its music director in 2010 and leading the world premieres of several contemporary operas there.
On recordings Pons has frequently been associated with the Harmonia Mundi label, recording, among other things, music by Italian film composer Nino Rota (with the City of Granada Symphony) in addition to Spanish works. In 2019, Pons led a performance of Granados' opera Goyescas for Harmonia Mundi, with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and BBC Singers. Pons received the City of Barcelona Award in 1992 and Spain's National Prize for Music in 1999.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Ravel: Concerto en sol, Le Tombeau de Couperin & Alborada del gracioso
Javier Perianes, Orchestre de Paris, Josep Pons
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov. 29, 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Granados: Goyescas (Live)
BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers, Josep Pons
Opera - Released by harmonia mundi on May 24, 2019
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
De Falla : El Amor brujo (Orquestra de cambra Teatre Lliure de Barcelona - Josep Pons)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Dec. 14, 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: El sombrero de tres picos
Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Josep Pons
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Aug. 22, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rodrigo: Concierto de Aranjuez
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Sep. 15, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bizet: L'Arlésienne (Orquesta Ciudad de Granada, Josep Pons)
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Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Apr. 8, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Melancolía - Spanish Arias and Songs
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Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on Oct. 24, 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rota: "Là strada" & "il gattopardo
Josep Pons, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jul. 14, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ginastera: Estancia, Variaciones Concertantes & Concierto Para Arpa
Magdalena Barrera, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Josep Pons
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jun. 22, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky: Pulcinella
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Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jul. 31, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mompou: Suburbis, Les impropères
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov. 6, 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fearless
Manuel Blanco, Josep Pons, Orquesta Nacional De España
Classical - Released by Universal Music Spain S.L. on Sep. 22, 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: El corregidor y la molinera (Josep Pons)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jul. 28, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fearless
Manuel Blanco, Josep Pons, Orquesta Nacional De España
Classical - Released by Universal Music Spain S.L. on Sep. 22, 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: El Corregidor Y La Molinera
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jul. 28, 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: La Vida breve (Josep Pons)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov. 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Falla: La vida breve
Josep Pons, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Nov. 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marco: Ojos verdes de luna & Concierto del alma (Live)
María José Montiel, Victor Martin, Orquesta Ciudad De Granada, Josep Pons
Classical - Released by BIS on Dec. 31, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Música Sinfónica Española Contemporánea. Vol.2
Orquestra Simfònica De Barcelona I Nacional De Catalunya, Josep Pons
Classical - Released by Àudiovisuals de Sarrià on Sep. 16, 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pons: Chamber Music
Josep Pons, Orquestra De Cambra Teatre Lliure
Chamber Music - Released by Stradivarius on Jul. 7, 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Albéniz: Pepita Jiménez (Josep Pons)
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on Jun. 3, 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo