Joan Pons Álvarez

Joan Pons Álvarez (Ciutadella, Spain, 8 August 1946) is a Spanish operatic baritone, known internationally as Juan Pons. He is most famous for his Verdi roles.

Career Pons made his international début in 1980 at the Teatro alla Scala of Milan with Falstaff, staged by Giorgio Strehler and conducted by Lorin Maazel. Since then, he has been a guest of the most important theatres all over the world, including the Metropolitan Opera House of New York, the Vienna Staatsoper, Covent Garden in London, the Opéra of Paris, Zürich, the Liceo in Barcelona and the Arena of Verona.

His repertoire includes all the main baritone roles. Besides Falstaff, a role he played in 1993 at the La Scala under Riccardo Muti on the occasion of the centennial anniversary of its first performance, he has interpreted many of Verdi's most important baritone roles in Il trovatore, Aida, Ernani, Un ballo in maschera, Rigoletto, La forza del destino, La traviata, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco and Macbeth. He has performed in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana and Puccini's Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, Il tabarro, La fanciulla del West and Madama Butterfly.

Besides the mainstream repertoire, Juan Pons has also sung less well-known works such as Aroldo, Hérodiade, Roberto Devereux and Respighi's La fiamma.

Videography James Levine's 25th Anniversary Metropolitan Opera Gala (1996), Deutsche Grammophon DVD, B0004602-09