Mikko Franck (born 1 April 1979) is a Finnish

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and violinist.

Biography

Franck was born in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

. He began learning the violin at the age of 5 and started violin studies at the

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjoki ...

in 1992. The Academy let Franck conduct an orchestra in 1995, whereupon Jorma Panula enlisted him as a private student. Franck entered Panula's conducting class at the Academy in 1996, leaving in 1998 as his international career began. He said Panula "gave me everything that can be taught about this profession." Before age 23, Franck had made his conducting début with all leading Scandinavian orchestras, with the London Philharmonia,

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...

Berlin State Opera Orchestra The Staatskapelle Berlin () is a German orchestra and the resident orchestra of the Berlin State Opera, Unter den Linden. The orchestra is one of the oldest in the world. Until the fall of the German Empire in 1918 the orchestra's name was , i. ...

and the

Israel Philharmonic The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (abbreviation IPO; Hebrew: התזמורת הפילהרמונית הישראלית, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Filharmonit ha-Yisra'elit'') is a major Israeli symphony orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Its principal concert ...

. His first recording, of

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius (; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic music, Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early modern periods. He is widely regarded as his countr ...

, received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

nomination for "Best Orchestral Performance". He champions

Einojuhani Rautavaara Einojuhani Rautavaara (; 9 October 1928 – 27 July 2016) was a Finnish composer of classical music. Among the most notable Finnish composers since Jean Sibelius (1865–1957), Rautavaara wrote a List of compositions by Einojuhani Rautavaara, gre ...

's works. Franck was the Belgian National Orchestra's artistic director from 2002 to 2007. He became the

Finnish National Opera The Finnish National Opera and Ballet (; ) is a Finnish opera company and ballet company based in Helsinki. It is headquartered in the Opera House on the coast of the Töölönlahti bay in Töölö, which opened in 1993, and is state-owned throu ...

's general music director in August 2006. Six months later, he claimed a loss of confidence in the company's then-general director Erkki Korhonen and administrative director Pekka Kauranen, and announced his resignation. In response, the company nominated Franck to the dual post of Artistic Director and General Music Director. His term in both posts finished in 2013. Franck became music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in September 2015. He is scheduled to stand down as the orchestra's music director at the close of the 2024-2025 season. Unusually for conductors, Franck generally conducts while seated in a chair due to a painful spine condition. Franck and opera director Martina Pickert married in 2006. The couple divorced in 2010.

Selected discography

* Sibelius – ''

Lemminkäinen Lemminkäinen () or Lemminki () is a prominent figure in Finnish mythology. He is one of the heroes of the ''Kalevala'', where his character is a composite of several separate heroes of oral poetry. He is usually depicted as young and good-loo ...

Suite'' / ''

En saga ''En saga'' (in Finnish language, Finnish: '; occasionally translated to English as, variously, ''A Fairy Tale'', ''A Saga'', or ''A Legend''), Opus number, Op. 9, is a single-movement (music), movement tone poem for orch ...

''; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine 953; 2000) * Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 6 / Rautavaara –

Apotheosis Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine 1002; 2003) * Rautavaara – '' The House of the Sun'': Oulu Symphony Orchestra; Jukka Romu, Raija Regnell, Ulla Raiskio, Tuomas Katajala, Petri Backstrom,

Tommi Hakala Tommi Hakala (born 9 August 1970) is a Finnish operatic baritone and winner of the 2003 BBC Singer of the World Competition in Cardiff. He was born in Riihimäki, Finland. Sources *BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of ...

, Markus Nieminen, Helena Juntunen, Mia Huhta, Anne-Kristiina Kaappola, singers (Ondine 1032; 2004) * Rautavaara – ''

Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, through whom he gained considerable influence in the final ye ...

'': Finnish National Opera Orchestra and Finnish National Opera Chorus; Lilli Paasikivi, Jorma Hynninen, Jyrki Anttila, Riikka Rantanen, Ritva-Liisa Korhonen, Jyrki Korhonen, Gabriel Suovanen, Matti Salminen, Lassi Virtanen, singers (Ondine 1002; 2005) * Rautavaara – Symphony No. 1, ''Adagio Celeste'', ''Book of Visions''; Belgian National Orchestra (Ondine 1064; 2006)

References

External links

Article on "Mikko Franck – The beat generation", Norman Lebrecht, ''The Lebrecht Weekly''Ondine Records: Mikko Franck
{{DEFAULTSORT:Franck, Mikko 1979 births Living people Musicians from Helsinki 21st-century Finnish conductors (music) Finnish expatriates in Belgium Finnish expatriates in France Pupils of Jorma Panula Music directors of the Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France Music directors of the Belgian National Orchestra