Francisco Coll
composer
About this Artist
Francisco Coll has received the advocacy of some of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, LA Philharmonic New Music Group, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Modern. His music has been heard at festivals from Aldeburgh, Aix and Aspen to the BBC Proms, Verbier and Tanglewood.
Born in Valencia in 1985, Coll studied at the Valencia and Madrid Conservatoires before moving to London to work privately with Thomas Adès (as his only pupil to-date) and with Richard Baker at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 2019 he became the first composer to receive an International Classical Music Award (ICMA).
Coll’s concert opener Hidd’n Blue was premiered in 2012 by the London Symphony Orchestra and has since been taken up by nine other orchestras, including the SWR Sinfonieorchester, Münchner Philharmoniker, and the Cincinnati Symphony. His 2014 chamber opera Café Kafka, to a text by Meredith Oakes, was premiered to great acclaim by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and has since been produced at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts.
In 2016 Coll made his BBC Proms debut with the Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra, with Augustin Hadelich and the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Thomas Adès. 2016 also saw the premiere of Mural by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, who has become one of Coll’s strongest supporters. Cuarteto Casals premiered two works in 2017: the short quartet movement Cantos, and a Concerto Grosso with the Orquesta Nacional de España and David Afkham. Turia, a concerto for guitar and seven players was premiered in 2017 by Jacob Kellerman and Norrbotten NEO conducted by Christian Karlsen.
In 2018-19 Coll was Composer-in-Residence with Camerata Bern, a position that culminated in the premiere of the Double Concerto Les Plaisirs Illuminés with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta as soloists and the composer himself conducting. A Violin Concerto for Kopatchinskaja, commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, the NTR ZaterdagMatinee and Bamberger Symphoniker, was premiered in February 2020.
Coll is currently Composer-in-Residence with the Orquestra de València and in May 2020 will conduct them in a new 11-minute orchestral work, Lilith. Several recordings of his music are currently in production, including a portrait disc from the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. Future projects include pieces for the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Trio Isimsiz and Rundfunkchor Berlin.