Juan Pons

Joan Pons Álvarez ( born August 8, 1946 in Ciutadella, Menorca) is a menorcan opera singers and world-renowned baritone.

Life

Pons studied singing in Barcelona and was in the chorus of the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona his first engagement. Soon, smaller bass solo parts were entrusted to him. In 1977, he opted for the baritone.

He won the world's attention in December 1980 when he was in Milan opened with the title role of Falstaff, directed by Giorgio Strehler and conducted by Lorin Maazel, the La Scala season. A month later, he made his debut as Tonio also celebrated in Pagliacci in production by Franco Zeffirelli. Since then, he appears regularly at La Scala, where he can be heard among other things, Tosca, La traviata, La Fanciulla del West, Gianni Schicchi, Suor Angelica and Cavalleria rusticana. Throughout his career, Joan Pons has already sung at the famous opera stages around the world.

In 1992, he also appeared at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Barcelona, an event that was seen live on television by approximately one billion people worldwide. In the same year he participated in the World Expo in Seville.

Bibliography

• Antoni Pizà, Bartomeu Amengual, Luciano Pavarotti: Bravo Joan Pons (Palma de Mallorca: Documentation Balear, 2001) ISBN 84-95694-23-9

Honors

On 18 November 2000, he was awarded honorary doctorates from the University of the Balearic Islands. On 1 December 2006 he was appointed to the famous son of the town of Ciutadella de Menorca