
Rehearsal with Boise Philharmonic |
Biography (Fall 2008)
Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic, newly appointed Associate
Conductor of the Houston Symphony, and Music Director of the Mansfield
Symphony, Robert Franz is emerging as one of the most talented
conductors of his generation. He is also currently serving as Resident
Conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic through the
2008-09 season.
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.
Maestro Franz will begin his tenure as Music Director of the Boise
Philharmonic in the
2008-2009 season, where he will conduct five pairs
of
Masterpiece Subscription Concerts over 8 weeks, including multi-media
performances of Richard Einhorns Voices of Light. The innovations
that Franz will bring as Music Director will include a new tradition of
inviting composers to attend performances of their works and be a part
of the Boise community. This season Shulamit Ran will visit Boise. As
Music Director of the Mansfield Symphony in Ohio, Mr. Franz will begin
his sixth season with performances of a wide range of great symphonic
works, fully staged ballet, opera and Broadway musicals, and a
continuation of his highly successful artistic collaborations with other
prominent organizations, including performing and visual arts groups,
libraries, and area churches.

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.
A champion of new music, Franz has conducted numerous world premieres.
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.
On two occasions, ASCAP recognized Robert Franz for his advocacy of arts
education. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in June 2008 and the
Louisville Orchestra in 2001 were awarded the Leonard Bernstein Award
for Educational Programming based on programs he developed. The
Louisville Orchestras award led to the creation a
2.5-hour education

Mindy Duncan paints while Robert rehearses the Mansfield Symphony
in Michael Torkes Ash. |
program for Kentucky Educational Television entitled,
Creating Music and
Stories. Mr. Franz has created arts education programs for the Buffalo
Philharmonic, where he was awarded the 2008 BPO/ECMEA Music Educators
Award for Excellence, the Carolina Chamber Symphony, Louisville
Orchestra, West End Chamber Ensemble and the Winston-Salem Piedmont
Triad Symphony, including that organizations innovative
Bolton Research
Project. In 2007, Franz received the Extraordinary Leadership Award as
Music Director of the Mansfield Symphony.
In addition to his current posts, Mr. Franz served as associate
conductor of the Louisville Orchestra from
1997-2006, the Winston-Salem
Piedmont Triad Symphony and the National Repertory Orchestra, and has
led 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.
Mr. 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 (ASOL) and the Festival at Sandpoint, and
was a participant in the 1997 National Conductor Preview (ASOL).