
Rehearsal with Boise Philharmonic |
Biography (Summer 2010)
Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic, and Associate Conductor of the
Houston Symphony, Robert Franz is emerging as one of the most talented
conductors of his generation. Eminent composer Bright Sheng has praised
Franz for his extremely musical and passionate approach towards music
making and critics have hailed his masterly pace, emphasis and
technical control calling his conducting viscerally thrilling.
As Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic, Franz has made great
strides in reaching out to the community by creating partnerships with
other leading arts groups and educational institutions. This past season
his collaborations included Opera Idaho, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival,
and the Boise Ballet. He also launched a Casual Classics Series of
informal Saturday morning concerts. In this third season, Franzs
collaborations will include a concert with the Boise Art Museum
featuring artists creating paintings inspired by the music, and another
with the National Alliance on Mental Health.
As Associate Conductor of the Houston Symphony, Robert Franz continues
to lead the Symphony in a broad range of creative educational and family
concerts. Franzs emphasis on these programs has led him to a continuing
relationship with Disney Radio.

With Sir James with Lady Jeanne Galway |
With a wide and varying knowledge of symphonic and operatic works,
Maestro Franz has worked with some of todays finest classical soloists,
including James Galway, Joshua Bell and Rachel Barton, as well as many
of the top pops artists such as Chris Botti, Chaka Khan, and Judy
Collins. He has been invited to guest conduct orchestras throughout the
United States, including multiple appearances with such orchestras as
the Rochester Philharmonic, North Carolina Symphony, and the Columbus
Symphony, among others. Guest conducting appearances this season include
the Asheville Lyric Opera, The Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the
Portland Symphony (ME), the Idaho Ballet, South Bend Symphony, and the
Idaho Falls Symphony.
A champion of new music, Franz has conducted numerous world premieres
and works by living composers. This season in Boise, he will conduct a
world premiere by Lawrence Dillon and a work by Eric Ewanzen. He has
hosted Pulitzer-Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon and Shulamit Ran
in previous seasons. As Associate Conductor of the Louisville Orchestra,
he re-vitalized an ASCAP award-winning new music concert series, and
served as co-host of
In a Different Key, a weekly contemporary classical
music radio program on WUOL.

Mindy Duncan paints while Robert rehearses the Mansfield Symphony
in Michael Torkes Ash. |
On two occasions, ASCAP has recognized Robert Franz for his advocacy in
arts education. Under his direction, both the Buffalo Philharmonic
Orchestra in 2008 and the Louisville Orchestra in 2001 were awarded the
Leonard Bernstein Award for Educational Programming. The Louisville
Orchestras award lead to the creation an education program for Kentucky
Educational Television entitled,
Creating Music and Stories. Winner of
the 2008 BPO/ECMEA Music Educators Award for Excellence, Franz is a
strong supporter of arts education, and has created arts education
programs for the Carolina Chamber Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic,
Louisville Orchestra, West End Chamber Ensemble and the Winston-Salem
Piedmont Triad Symphony, including that organizations innovative Bolton
Research Project.
In addition to his current posts, Franz served as the Music Director of
the Mansfield Symphony in Ohio from
2003-2010, Resident Conductor of the
Buffalo Philharmonic from
2005-2009, and Associate Conductor of the
Louisville Orchestra from
1997-2006. He has also led the Winston-Salem
Piedmont Triad Symphony, the Louisville Youth Orchestra, and the
Winston-Salem Youth Symphony. He continues to serve as Music Director
Emeritus of the Carolina Chamber Symphony, an orchestra that he founded,
and provides educational programming workshops at the National Repertory
Orchestra during the summer.
Franz received his Master of Music degree in conducting from the North
Carolina School of the Arts in 1992 and his Bachelor of Music degree in
oboe performance in 1990 from that same institution. He has participated
in conducting workshops in the Czech Republic, St. Petersburg (Russia),
Nashville, the Festival at Sandpoint and was a participant in the 1997
National Conductor Preview.
When not on the podium, Franz is an avid runner and a proponent of the
Alexander technique.