This season Josep Pons has completed a decade as musical director of the Liceu and responsible for the improvement plan for the artistic bodies. A season that now ends with a tour de force by the orchestra: the recent Parsifal, the debut today at the Opéra de Paris with Bluebeard’s Castle, the concert on the beach open to everyone, the tour of the territory and the participation in the Greek Festival. A good time to take stock and enter one of the rehearsals of this title by Bartók that they are taking to Paris and which is part of the exchange of orchestras that was agreed upon while Gustavo Dudamel was at the head of the French theatre. It is a pity that the Venezuelan baton has decided to put an end to this short stage.
In September 2012, Pons arrived at the Liceu with his homework set in writing: a record of what needed to be done in the artistic and logistical aspects. And according to him, he hasn’t strayed a hair from it. “I will have gone further or less, for a matter of time or money or whatever, since let’s not forget that I have enjoyed two crises: the economic one, with cuts in 2012, and the pandemic. But the compass has not changed. The tunneling machine is working and it will come out where it needs to be”.
It already happened to him with the other projects he has forged throughout his career: the Chamber Orchestra of the Free Theatre, JONC, Granada and ONE. “I think of the project and, on the day of lucidity, I put it in writing.” At the Liceu, he remembers, it was necessary to build a structure and regulations that would allow them to develop. It was necessary to give vigor to the music department and replace the places that had been lost – 40 will have been created this decade, if the remaining 9 are completed by 2026 to add 94 -. It was also necessary to have a symphonic series to work on aspects in more detail, in addition to a season of chamber music. “We have been missing more recordings, which are essential to improve, as you need to do something impeccable. And also more tours: those in the territory are as important as going to Parisâ€.
“An orchestra is like a team of scientists, a football team or a newspaper editorial team. Apart from playing well, you need to feel good – says the teacher. These years we have managed to spread the idea around the world that the Orquestra del Liceu is worth going to play, that it is special, and so we now have magnificent young musicians. This orchestra has been conducted by Toscanini, Prokófiev, Falla… it is the only Spanish one with this impressive resume. And the day we have good acoustics will be incredible.”
Pons assures that when he arrived at the Liceu he proposed to enter Catalan homes by broadcasting a massive outdoor concert at the beginning of the season. “Because an opera orchestra is anonymous, invisible, you have to put a face on it, make it feel like something of your own. This is what needs to be achieved, for people to love it, we have to be the other Barça in the city. Because now this Symphony is like the Barça of the good times. It is clear that there are tensions. At rehearsals we go head to head, although always with respect and participation. But in fact we have entered a positive spiral that drags us upwards”, he concludes.
