Jordi
Francés

Jordi Francés combines his work as a conductor across opera, symphonic repertoire, and contemporary music. His most recent and significant engagements include invitations to conduct the Spanish National Orchestra, the Teatro Real, the Palau de les Arts, the OBC (Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya), the Real Filharmonía de Galicia, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Valencia, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Madrid, the Bilbao Orchestra, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra, and the Reina Sofía School, among others. He has also conducted the BBC Philharmonic, the RTVE Orchestra, the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra, as well as many other ensembles and orchestras across Europe and the Americas.

He has also conducted world premieres of more than one hundred contemporary works and has collaborated with composers such as Birtwistle, Eötvös, Haas, Manoury, Gervasoni, Sotelo, López-López, Sánchez-Verdú, Camarero, Torres, Ibarrondo, Río-Pareja, Magrané, García-Tomás, and many others.

He made his debut at the Teatro Real in 2016 and has since maintained a fruitful collaboration with the institution. He conducted the world premiere of the opera “Tránsito” by J. Torres, the Spanish premiere of “Orphée” by P. Glass, “Arabella” by R. Strauss, the world premiere of “La Regenta” by M. Manchado, and “Pierrot Lunaire” by A. Schönberg. He also made his debut in Valencia at the Palau de les Arts with “Trouble in Tahiti” by L. Bernstein and has already confirmed future productions at both venues for upcoming seasons. The Ópera de Tenerife, the Orquesta de Castilla y León, and the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra are also among his recent debuts.

Over the past ten years, Jordi Francés has also developed a strong pedagogical approach to working with young musicians. He has collaborated with some of the most important educational institutions in the country, including the Reina Sofía School, JONDE, JORCAM, ESMUC, JONC, the Liceu Higher Conservatory, JOGV, and others. He is also an associate professor at the “Zubin Mehta” Chair of Orchestral Conducting at the Reina Sofía School.

Francés graduated from the Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in Maastricht (Netherlands) and holds a postgraduate degree in orchestral conducting for contemporary repertoire from the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana in Switzerland, as well as a master’s degree in musicology from the University of La Rioja. His extensive training as a conductor also includes workshops and extended residencies at the Manhattan School of Music in New York, the International Järvi Academy in Estonia, the Eötvös Foundation in Budapest, IRCAM in Paris, and others, studying with conductors such as Kurt Masur, Jorma Panula, Paavo Järvi, and Peter Eötvös.

In the 2026/27 season, he will conduct “La piccola Cubana” at Oper Köln.