Francisco Coll
AC
(b. Valencia, 1985) studied at the Valencia and Madrid Conservatoires before moving to London as a private pupil of Thomas Adès (his only pupil to date), and a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the Ian Horsburgh Memorial Prize for the best postgraduate composition.
Lib
rett
Coll’s music has received the advocacy of some of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Ensemble Intercontemporain and the London Sinfonietta. 2014 saw his chamber opera Café Kafka premiered to great acclaim. Coll’s short concert-opener Hidd’n Blue – originally written for the London Symphony Orchestra – has since been performed by orchestras including the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Munich Philharmonic and the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra.
Café Kafka photographs © ROH, Stephen Cummiskey
Highlights of 2016 included Coll making his BBC Proms debut with a performance of the Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra by Augustin Hadelich and the Britten Sinfonia under Thomas Adès, the premiere of Mural by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno,
ham
and a new Harpsichord Concerto for Mahan Esfahani and Britten Sinfonia. In March 2017 Cuarteto Casals premiered Coll’s Concerto Grosso for in Madrid with the Orquesta Nacional de España under David Afkham. Future plans include a second chamber opera – a modern adaptation of Lope de Vega’s La Dama Boba to a libretto by Meredith Oakes – and a Violin Concerto.
For more information please contact: Promotion Department Faber Music Ltd. Bloomsbury House 74–77 Great Russell Street London WC1B 3DA +44(0)20 7908 5311 promotion@fabermusic.com
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nspired by the darkly surreal world of Franz Kafka, Francisco Coll’s first chamber opera, Café Kafka, is an explosive gem. Taking its cue from Meredith Oakes’s punchy, cleverlyassembled libretto, this dazzling score brings out every nuance of the bizarre scenario’s comedy, irony and profundity.
CAST Girl Man 1 Woman Man 2
Coloratura Soprano Tenor Low Soprano Countertenor
The Hunter Gracchus/ Policeman/ Man 3
}
‘Quite dazzling, both in terms of its originality and sonically... [The] treatment of disconnected fragments, mainly dialogues, had a Pinterish insouciance with non sequiturs, a dramatic freedom and indeed a poetic quality… Astonishing compositional assurance.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES (PAUL DRIVER), 23 MARCH 2014
‘Bright and angular. Here undoubtedly is a major talent.’ SEEN AND HEARD (MARK BERRY), 19 MARCH 2014
‘A major talent, with a potent, dark-hued voice all his own. Oakes has distilled the claustrophobia and despair of Kafka’s writing into a few brief lines that drive a hot-blooded score, voices and instruments sparking off each other in an intimate dance, mirrored by the vivacious jiving on stage… Could Coll be the composer Spain has long been waiting for?’ BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE (HELEN WALLACE), 20 MARCH 2014
Bass-Baritone
‘Spikey and energetic… musically and dramatically engaging.’ MUSICAL AMERICA (KEITH CLARKE), 24 MARCH 2014
INSTRUMENTATION (10 players) picc(=fl).cl.cbsn (or contraforte) - trbn (with splash.cym ) - perc(1): glsp/crot/small cyms/susp.cym (dark)/large susp.cym/small splash.cym/2 wdbl (small and large)/3 tpl.bl (very small, medium, large)/3 opera gongs (very small, small, medium)/2 tins (small, medium)/very small tuna tin/sleigh bells/tamb/guero/bamboo/wine bottle/flamenco cajón - pno - vln.vla.vlc.db
Duration 45 minutes Commissioned by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and Royal Opera Covent Garden with support from Arts Council England’s ‘Britten Centenary Fund’
FIRST PERFORMANCES
‘Astonishing compositional assurance’ ‘This could become a classic’
14.3.2014: Britten Studio, Snape, UK 17-19.3.2014: Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, UK 22.3.2014: Howard Assembly Rooms, Leeds, UK Suzanne Shakespeare/Daniel Norman/Anna Dennis/William Purefoy Andri Björn Róbertsson/CHROMA Ensemble/cond. Richard Baker/dir. Annabel Arden 22-31.5.16: Palau de les Arts, Valencia, Spain Cantantes del Centre Plácido Domingo/cond. Christopher Franklin/dir. Alexander Herold
‘A brightly-coloured high-wire act; its musical coup de theatre revealed Coll to be a master of his art. This could become a classic.’ THE INDEPENDENT (MICHAEL CHURCH), 18 MARCH 2014
‘A witty fantasy set to music of real imagination and prodigious technical skill… it entertains in a sophisticated fashion… My guess is that Café Kafka will have an afterlife. Its talented composer deserves a second operatic commission.’ THE STAGE (GEORGE HALL), 18 MARCH 2014
‘The music conveyed loneliness, dizziness and restlessness… Both vocal and ensemble writing are perfectly calibrated, producing a limpid and clear effect – not a common skill in a composer so young.’ CULTUR PLAZA (ROSA SOLÀ), 23 MAY 2016
‘A taut, memorable work… An assured musical voice, sensitive to nuanced sonorities and possessing a broad expressive palette.’ BACHTRACK (KATY WRIGHT), 18 MARCH 2014
I
nspired by the darkly surreal world of Franz Kafka, Francisco Coll’s first chamber opera, Café Kafka, is an explosive gem. Taking its cue from Meredith Oakes’s punchy, cleverlyassembled libretto, this dazzling score brings out every nuance of the bizarre scenario’s comedy, irony and profundity.
CAST Girl Man 1 Woman Man 2
Coloratura Soprano Tenor Low Soprano Countertenor
The Hunter Gracchus/ Policeman/ Man 3
}
‘Quite dazzling, both in terms of its originality and sonically... [The] treatment of disconnected fragments, mainly dialogues, had a Pinterish insouciance with non sequiturs, a dramatic freedom and indeed a poetic quality… Astonishing compositional assurance.’ THE SUNDAY TIMES (PAUL DRIVER), 23 MARCH 2014
‘Bright and angular. Here undoubtedly is a major talent.’ SEEN AND HEARD (MARK BERRY), 19 MARCH 2014
‘A major talent, with a potent, dark-hued voice all his own. Oakes has distilled the claustrophobia and despair of Kafka’s writing into a few brief lines that drive a hot-blooded score, voices and instruments sparking off each other in an intimate dance, mirrored by the vivacious jiving on stage… Could Coll be the composer Spain has long been waiting for?’ BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE (HELEN WALLACE), 20 MARCH 2014
Bass-Baritone
‘Spikey and energetic… musically and dramatically engaging.’ MUSICAL AMERICA (KEITH CLARKE), 24 MARCH 2014
INSTRUMENTATION (10 players) picc(=fl).cl.cbsn (or contraforte) - trbn (with splash.cym ) - perc(1): glsp/crot/small cyms/susp.cym (dark)/large susp.cym/small splash.cym/2 wdbl (small and large)/3 tpl.bl (very small, medium, large)/3 opera gongs (very small, small, medium)/2 tins (small, medium)/very small tuna tin/sleigh bells/tamb/guero/bamboo/wine bottle/flamenco cajón - pno - vln.vla.vlc.db
Duration 45 minutes Commissioned by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and Royal Opera Covent Garden with support from Arts Council England’s ‘Britten Centenary Fund’
FIRST PERFORMANCES
‘Astonishing compositional assurance’ ‘This could become a classic’
14.3.2014: Britten Studio, Snape, UK 17-19.3.2014: Linbury Studio Theatre, Royal Opera House, London, UK 22.3.2014: Howard Assembly Rooms, Leeds, UK Suzanne Shakespeare/Daniel Norman/Anna Dennis/William Purefoy Andri Björn Róbertsson/CHROMA Ensemble/cond. Richard Baker/dir. Annabel Arden 22-31.5.16: Palau de les Arts, Valencia, Spain Cantantes del Centre Plácido Domingo/cond. Christopher Franklin/dir. Alexander Herold
‘A brightly-coloured high-wire act; its musical coup de theatre revealed Coll to be a master of his art. This could become a classic.’ THE INDEPENDENT (MICHAEL CHURCH), 18 MARCH 2014
‘A witty fantasy set to music of real imagination and prodigious technical skill… it entertains in a sophisticated fashion… My guess is that Café Kafka will have an afterlife. Its talented composer deserves a second operatic commission.’ THE STAGE (GEORGE HALL), 18 MARCH 2014
‘The music conveyed loneliness, dizziness and restlessness… Both vocal and ensemble writing are perfectly calibrated, producing a limpid and clear effect – not a common skill in a composer so young.’ CULTUR PLAZA (ROSA SOLÀ), 23 MAY 2016
‘A taut, memorable work… An assured musical voice, sensitive to nuanced sonorities and possessing a broad expressive palette.’ BACHTRACK (KATY WRIGHT), 18 MARCH 2014
Francisco Coll
AC
(b. Valencia, 1985) studied at the Valencia and Madrid Conservatoires before moving to London as a private pupil of Thomas Adès (his only pupil to date), and a student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the Ian Horsburgh Memorial Prize for the best postgraduate composition.
Lib
rett
Coll’s music has received the advocacy of some of the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic New Music Group, Ensemble Intercontemporain and the London Sinfonietta. 2014 saw his chamber opera Café Kafka premiered to great acclaim. Coll’s short concert-opener Hidd’n Blue – originally written for the London Symphony Orchestra – has since been performed by orchestras including the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg, Munich Philharmonic and the Mediterranean Youth Orchestra.
Café Kafka photographs © ROH, Stephen Cummiskey
Highlights of 2016 included Coll making his BBC Proms debut with a performance of the Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra by Augustin Hadelich and the Britten Sinfonia under Thomas Adès, the premiere of Mural by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg under Gustavo Gimeno,
ham
and a new Harpsichord Concerto for Mahan Esfahani and Britten Sinfonia. In March 2017 Cuarteto Casals premiered Coll’s Concerto Grosso for in Madrid with the Orquesta Nacional de España under David Afkham. Future plans include a second chamber opera – a modern adaptation of Lope de Vega’s La Dama Boba to a libretto by Meredith Oakes – and a Violin Concerto.
For more information please contact: Promotion Department Faber Music Ltd. Bloomsbury House 74–77 Great Russell Street London WC1B 3DA +44(0)20 7908 5311 promotion@fabermusic.com
ber
o by
Op
Me
era
red
by
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Caf Fra é ncis Kaf ka co
Oak
es b
ase
do
n fr
agm
ent
s by
Fra
Col
nz K
afk
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