Jose Franch-Ballester, clarinet
Born in Moncofa, Spain into a family of clarinetists and Zarzuela singers, clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester has been called "that rare find, an artist whose brilliant mastery of his instrument is matched by sound and secure gifts as a musician," by The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana), and The New York Sun proclaimed, "Young Concert Artists has a winner!"
In April 2006, Mr. Franch-Ballester will perform the Copland Clarinet Concerto in YCA's annual Irene Diamond Concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall with Keith Lockhart conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's. During the 2005-2006 season, he performs with the Westmoreland Symphony, the Haddonfield (NJ) Symphony, Music for Youth (CT), the Washington Center for the Performing Arts, and Southwest Missouri State University.
Mr. Franch-Ballester has given recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the La Jolla Music Society (CA), the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts (FL), and Monmouth College (NJ). As a chamber musician, he has performed Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time with Arnold Steinhardt, violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, and appeared at the Music from Angel Fire (NM) Festival, the Usedomer Musikfestival in Germany, and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. He also performed in the world premiere of Jake Heggie's song cycle Winter Roses with mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade in 2004.
In Spain, he performed with the Musica de Vall de Uxo Orchestra and won First Prize in the Competition of the Cultural Council of Valencia for three consecutive years (2001-2003), First Prize in the 2001 "Allegro" Clarinet Competition, and First Prize in the "Francisco Hernandez Guirado" Interpretive Soloists Competition.
Mr. Franch-Ballester won First Prize in the 2004 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He was also awarded the Alexander Kasza-Kasser Prize, which sponsored his Washington, DC debut at the Kennedy Center, and the Claire Tow Prize, which sponsored his New York debut at the 92nd Street Y, as well as the Orchestra New England Soloist Prize, the Princeton University Concerts Prize, the La Jolla Music Society Prize, and the Fredericksburg (MD) Festival of the Arts Prize. He is also on the roster of Astral Artistic Services in Philadelphia, having won first prize at their 2004 National Auditions.
Mr. Franch-Ballester began clarinet lessons at the age of nine with Venancio Rius Marti. He gave his first recital in Valencia at the age of sixteen, and graduated from the Joaquin Rodrigo Music Conservatory in Valencia in 2000. He came to the US to study at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied clarinet with Donald Montanaro and Ricardo Morales and chamber music with Pamela Frank, and earned a Bachelor of Music degree in 2005. With the Symphony Orchestra of The Curtis Institute, he has played under the batons of Sir Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Temirkanov, Charles Dutoit, David Zinman, and Hans Vonk.
When he is not playing his clarinet, Mr. Franch-Ballester has a passion for archaeology and is an avid photographer.
Jose Franch-Ballester
Upcoming Appearances at Chamber Music Society:
Folk Traditions I: 10/19/2010
Search for Jose Franch-Ballester CDs available for purchase at the Chamber Music Society
photo credit: Christian Steiner