Conductor
World
Equally at home on the concert stage and in the opera house, American conductor Christopher Franklin has been praised for his keen theatrical instincts and vibrant performances. His continued success in the Italian operatic repertoire is a natural result of having launched his career in Italy, where he lives actually.
M° Franklin is Principal Conductor of Minnesota Opera in Minneapolis since 2024 and the appointment was renewed until the end of season 2028/29.
He has conducted in most of major Italian opera houses and festivals including the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Regio di Torino, Arena di Verona, and he has also performed in leading theatres and concert halls throughout the world such as the Musikvereinssaal and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Herculessaal in Munich, Teatro Real Madrid, Musikhalle Hamburg, Alte Oper Frankfurt, Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, Palau de les Arts Valencia, San Francisco Opera.
A sought-after guest conductor, Mr. Franklin has conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Münchner Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic Prague, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestra Verdi di Milano, Filarmonica Toscanini di Parma.
Recent highlights include Turandot and Hansel und Gretel at San Francisco Opera, Peter Grimes and Turn of the Screw at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, Die Fledermaus at New National Theatre Tokyo, I Puritani and Otello at Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Attila at Opera de Tenerife, La traviata and Thais at Minnesota Opera, L’Occasione fa il ladro at Royal Opera House in Oman, Il turco in Italia at Teatro Comunale in Bologna, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci at Macerata Opera Festival, La sonnambula at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Over the years Mr. Franklin has established a collaboration with Juan Diego Flórez, appearing with him on tour in many concert venues around the world.
M° Franklin was first-prize winner of the Gino Marinuzzi International Conducting Competition. He began studying the violin at the age of six in his hometown of Pittsburgh, while his conducting studies began with Charles Bruck at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock (USA), then he earned his MM in conducting at the University of Illinois and his DMA at the Peabody Conservatory with Frederik Prausnitz. He was awarded a scholarship to study at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he worked with Seiji Ozawa, Robert Span, and Gustav Meier, and subsequently a Fulbright Fellowship to study at the Musikhochschule in Saarbrücken. He also attended the conducting class of Gianluigi Gelmetti at the Accademia Chigiana in Siena where he was awarded the “Franco Ferrara” Prize.
LATEST PERFORMANCES: Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci in Saint Etienne; Verdi’s Otello in Novara and Rovigo; Roméo et Juliette, La bohème and L’elisir d’amore at Minnesota Opera; Die Zauberflöte and Adriana Lecouvreur at Opéra Royal de Wallonie; Manon at Opera de Tenerife;Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at Teatro Regio Parma.
FORTHCOMING PROJECTS: Il barbiere di Siviglia in Minneapolis; La cambiale di matrimonio at Rossini Opera Festival; Così fan tutte, Edgar and Pagliacci in Minneapolis; La Gioconda in Pittsburgh; concerts with Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.
