Mikko Franck is a Finnish conductor and violinist.

Biography

Franck was born in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

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

Sibelius Academy The Sibelius Academy ( fi, Taideyliopiston Sibelius-Akatemia, sv, Sibelius-Akademin vid Konstuniversitetet) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It ...

in 1992. The Academy let Franck conduct an orchestra in 1995, whereupon

Jorma Panula Jorma Juhani Panula (born 10 August 1930) is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä and Klaus ...

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 (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) 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 Ra ...

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 ''Kö ...

and the

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

. 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 and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...

, received a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

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 great number of works spanning various styles. T ...

's works. Franck was the

Belgian National Orchestra The Belgian National Orchestra ( nl, Nationaal Orkest van België, french: Orchestre National de Belgique) is a Belgian orchestra, based in Brussels. Its principal concert venue is the Brussels Centre for Fine Arts ( Bozar). The orchestra also g ...

's artistic director from 2002 to 2007. He became the Finnish National Opera'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. Instead 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 Radio France's Orchestre philharmonique in September 2015. Franck and opera director Martina Pickert married in 2006 and divorced in 2010.

Selected Discography

– ''

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: '; occasionally translated to English as, variously, ''A Fairy Tale'', ''A Saga'', or ''A Legend''), Op. 9, is a single-movement tone poem for orchestra written from 1891 to 1892 by the Finnish ...

''; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine 953; 2000) *

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

– Symphony No. 6 /

–

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 term ha ...

; Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine 1002; 2003) *

– '' 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 o ...

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

– ''

Rasputin Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin (; rus, links=no, Григорий Ефимович Распутин ; – ) was a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, thus ga ...

'': 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) *

– 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 Living people Finnish conductors (music) Musicians from Helsinki 21st-century conductors (music) Finnish expatriates in Belgium Finnish expatriates in France Year of birth missing (living people)