Franck Ollu

Source: franckollu.com

Franck Ollu is a versatile conductor, widely acknowledged as an expert in the field of contemporary and French music. In celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Pierre Boulez, during 2025 Franck Ollu will conduct Les Siècles in a series of concerts, including performances in Paris, Munich, Berlin and Bucharest. He will also conduct the Israël Contemporary players and the Ensemble Modern.
During the last season he conducted the  french premiere of Dusapin’s Macbeth underworld at the Opéra Comique in Paris, the Norwegian National Opera Orchestra, the Slovenian Radio orchestra, the Polish Radio Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Contemporary Players.
During the previous saisons Franck conducted the world premiere of Shirine by Thierry Escaich at the Opera de Lyon, Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at Theater Mannheim, Mason’ Chaplin Opera at Frankfurt Opera, the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and  Weir’s Blond Eckbert in Amsterdam Concertgebouw. the world premiere A Wintery Spring by Saed Haddad at the Oper Frankfurt, the baroque cantata The Bronze Snake by Jan Dismas Zelenka with the Ensemble Modern.  He also conducted Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg (Lille and Rennes), Dallapiccola’s Il Prigioniero and Rihm’s Das Gehege (La Monnaie and Stuttgart). Xenakis’ The Oresteia at Basel Opera and Warsaw Opera, Benjamin’s Written on Skin  at the Bolshoi Opera, Toulouse capitole and Dutch National opera Amsterdam. Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé  and Rihm’s Jakob Lenz at the  Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, Dusapin’s Medea at the Salzburg Festival with the Akademie for Alte Musik Berlin. Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande at the Stockholm Opera house and Opera de Strasbourg, Janacek’s The Cunning Little Vixen at the Opera de Lille.
Franck has been invited to conduct the world premiere performances of many important opera titles, including Bianchi’s Thanks to My Eyes, (Festival Aix-en-Provence), Dusapin’s Penthésiléa (La Monnaie) and Passion (Festival Aix-en-Provence) (Théâtre des Champs Elysées). He conducted the first performance of Benjamin’s first opera Into the Little Hill at Opéra Bastille in 2006 with many subsequent performances with the London Sinfonietta (Aldeburgh Festival and Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden), and with Ensemble Modern in New York and major festivals in Amsterdam, Vienna, Dresden and Frankfurt. Die Wunde Heine by Helmut Oehring (Cologne MusikTriennale), Neuwirth Ce qui arrive… Konzerthaus Vienna , Johannes Wallman’s Solo 1-5 with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Berlin Philharmonie).
Franck was the Musical Director of the Sweedish Ensemble KammarensembleN (2003-2013). His particularly close relationship with Ensemble Modern has led to numerous opera and concert perfomances. He has also conducted the Budapest Festival Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonieorchester Berlin, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish, the Warsaw Philharmonic, Orquestra National de Espana, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Orchestra della RAI, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Franck is a committed teacher and mentor and has established relationships with the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie and in London, at the Royal Academy of Music and Royal College of Music and in France with the the Conservatoire National supérieur de Musique de Paris.