Illeslex Abogados sponsors the first Joan Pons International Singing Competition

Illeslex Abogados is sponsoring the Audience Award of the 1st Joan Pons International Singing Competition, organised by the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra Foundation and that will be held between the 14th and 19th of June in Palma. The competition is led by the Menorcan baritone Juan Pons, one of the most important operatic voices in the history of opera, who, with this initiative, together with the Government of Baleares and all the entities involved in the competition, is firmly supporting a new generation of opera singers. The competition has more than 40 finalists from 22 different countries, with three artists from the Islands in the final phase: Celia Cuéllar, Biel Mas and Cristina Van Roy.

Javier Blas, founding partner of Illeslex Abogados, explains that: "In addition to providing the best service to our clients, at Illeslex we have always been clear about our desire to participate in different initiatives in the cultural field, because we believe that culture is a great value of our society and it is our obligation to contribute to maintain it and to give it greater prominence. We are therefore very happy to be part of the first edition of the Joan Pons International Singing Competition, sponsoring the Audience award. It is an extraordinary initiative, which, in addition to do justice by paying tribute to and recognising the career of a great figure such as Joan Pons, will serve to show the best cultural side of our land, which is often overshadowed by the sun and the beach". Illeslex collaborates with the Port de Sóller Classical Music Festival and Mallorca Me Suena, among others.

The 1^st Joan Pons International Singing Competition has a money prize of 42,500 euros, distributed as follows: 15,000 € (first prize); 10,000 € (second prize); 7,500 € (third prize); 5,000 € (Joan Pons special prize for the best baritone), the latter to be awarded by Joan Pons himself; and 5,000 € (Audience award), sponsored by Illeslex Abogados. The competition is open to singers of all kinds of voices, between 18 and 35 years old (born from 1987 to 2003), who have the preparation and conditions to perform on the most important opera stages in the world. The grand final will take place on Sunday the 19^th of June in Palma's Palacio de Congresos, where each finalist will sing two arias with the Symphony Orchestra of the Balearic Islands, conducted by Pablo Mielgo.

The 1^st Joan Pons International Singing Competition has a top-level international jury. The president of the jury will be Joan Pons, and as members will be Augusto Techera (artistic director of the Colón Theatre in Buenos Aires); Boris Ignatov (casting director of the Stuttgart Opera); Cesidio Nen (artistic director of ABAO Bilbao); Gianluca Macheda, (international agent of GMArtists); Illias Tzempetonidis (casting director of the Santo Carlo Theatre in Naples); Javier Menéndez (General Director of the Maestranza Theatre in Seville); Joshua Winograde (Director of Programming at the Los Angeles Opera); Olga Kapanina, (Director of Casting at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow); Robert Koerner (Director of Casting at the Vienna Opera) and Samuel Gelber (Director of Programming at the Washington Opera).

ILLESLEX LAWYERS

Illeslex Abogados is a professional law firm offering legal, tax and business consultancy services in the Balearic Islands, founded 20 years ago by its two partners, Javier Blas and Guillermo Dezcallar, who have more than 30 years of professional experience. It has a large team of professionals (lawyers, economists and social graduates) to provide services to both national and foreign clients in all areas of law in Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera, with special mention in the field of commercial, corporate, restructuring, real estate, urban-planning, tourism, civil, labour and administrative laws.