Philharmonic: Guest conductor is finalist to replace Levine
then securing a leadership position with an orchestra. Franco took a very different approach, one in which serendipity played a significant role in the shaping of his conducting career.
A Colombian pianist living in Bogota, Franco moved to Fort Worth, Texas, in 2000 to study with Van Cliburn Competition gold medalist Jose Feghali. As Franco began putting together a class schedule for his first semester of graduate studies, an adviser suggested that he take conducting as an elective. Pianists on the concert circuit would need to know the inner workings of an orchestra, after all.
“Not long after I started classes, my teacher came to me and said he had a conflict the night that the next orchestra concert was scheduled,” Franco said recently. “He gave me the score to the overture from Rossini’s ‘La Gazza Ladra’ and asked if I would learn it for the concert. I took the score home and played it on the piano as well as I could.
“The day of the concert, I remember giving the cue to the snare drum to begin. I don’t remember anything that happened between that moment and the end of the piece. As it turned out, my teacher didn’t have a conflict after all. He was in the hall to watch me conduct. Later, he encouraged me to consider becoming a conductor.”
Not long after completing his master’s degree at Texas Christian University, Franco embarked on what would become an impressive conducting career. He served as music director of the Philharmonia of Kansas City from 200410 and was associate and resident conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony from 2009-14.
Franco is no stranger to the process of how an orchestra chooses a music director. During the 2014-15 season, he was one of three finalists vying for the top job with the Signature Symphony in Tulsa. He was named the orchestra’s music director last year.
“My approach in these situations has always been to just be myself,” Franco said. “I would consider myself to be a steward for the organization and to have an artistic vision. You have to figure out what the orchestra needs to continue to grow artistically.
“I am really committed to advancing the symphony orchestra and I always look for ways to engage the community at large. An orchestra will be more and more influential if we work toward that.”
When Franco arrives in Oklahoma City this week, he’ll have four rehearsals in which to prepare the orchestra to perform Antonin Dvorak’s “Carnival Overture,” Johann Strauss’ “Gypsy Baron Overture” and Richard Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier Suite.”
Franco will also devote a portion of two rehearsals to work with Stefan Milenkovich, the guest soloist who will be making his Oklahoma City Philharmonic debut performing Pablo de Sarasate’s “Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen.”
Ten hours is not a lot of time to prepare music for what is generally a two-hour concert. But it’s an industry standard among professional orchestras. It’s up to the conductor to budget his time based on the demands of the music.
“Usually I have some idea of the orchestra because I do some research beforehand,” Franco said. “I plan my rehearsal schedule in a certain way so I get a chance to know the orchestra. From that point, there’s no formula. Just show up and play the first piece.
“Then you start seeing how to shape your vision for the piece. The approach is just to make music. I like to show up and see what the musicians have to offer and what the orchestra is bringing to the table.”
Stepping into a position as the new music director of any orchestra comes with its own set of challenges. It takes time to get to know an orchestra, how it responds and how it’s perceived within the community. Should Franco be named music director, he’ll need to address all of those issues as well as many more.
“An orchestra is usually the largest cultural organization within a community, and it can foster the cultural life of a society,” Franco said. “So we have to work very hard to be creative in terms of how we make orchestral music reach the community.
“From all of the exchanges I’ve had with players and people within the organization, it’s very inspiring to see that this orchestra has that support. Joel Levine is a very well-liked music director, so it’s important to make sure we honor his legacy and build on that.”