Composer and pianist, he teaches chamber music at the CNSMD of Lyon. After a comprehensive education, Franck Krawczyk received his first commission at the age of twenty from the Festival d’Automne in Paris (Quasi una sonata, piano/1989). He has written numerous pieces for solo instruments and chamber ensembles performed at festivals in France and abroad. His first work for orchestra, commissioned by Radio-France, (Ruines/2000), received the Hervé Dugardin Prize from SACEM. He was awarded the Grand Prix Radio Classique as a composer in 2001. The New York Philharmonic commissioned him a work in tribute to Henri Dutilleux (Après/2016). His first opera, Fosse, commissioned by the Opéra Comique, premiered in 2020 in the parking lot of the Centre Pompidou.
With Christian Boltanski and Jean Kalman, he created about fifteen works in France and abroad, in contemporary art venues as well as opera houses. O Mensch! (Dijon 2001– Paris 2003), Tétralogie Pleins Jours (Théâtre du Châtelet 2004–2005), Tant que nous sommes vivants (Reggio Emilia 2005 and 2012, Warsaw 2007), Polvere (Grand Palais/Monumenta 2010, restaged in New York’s Armory and Milan’s Hangar Bicocca), Pleine Nuit (Opéra Comique under renovation 2016).
With Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne, he produced three shows: Love is my sin (2009), A Magic Flute based on Mozart (2010), and The Suit (2012) (premiered at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord and then on international tour). With Emio Greco en Pieter C. Scholten, he tackled St. Matthew Passion by J.S. Bach and a version of G. Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder for piano, children’s choir, and 7 dancers (Marseille then European tour) and the multidimensional performance NOUS, le RADEAU / WE, the LUST inspired by the painting “The Raft of the Medusa” by Théodore Géricault (Philharmonie de Paris, 2024).
In 2021, he designed the musical signature for the French Pavilion at the Dubai World Expo. With Plein Jour and in partnership with the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, he created the series ‘L’opéra c’est vous’ inviting everyone to speak through a work from the operatic repertoire. Concurrently, and still aiming to share the repertoire with the widest possible audience, he created È Così! based on Mozart’s Così fan tutte in 2017, then L’affaire Clemenza in 2021 based on La Clemenza di Tito.
— Since 2012, Franck has been working with Emio and Pieter on various performances, projects and research.
