Maestro Robert Franz Has Been Signed onto a
Five-Year Contract Extension with the WSO
Story by Matthew St. Amand
Photography by John Liviero
The thing that would alter the course of Maestro Robert Franz’s life intersected his timeline by accident. It was a cello.
Robert, music director and conductor of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (WSO), recalls: “When I was in third grade, the school’s music teacher, Willa Loescher, came around to the classroom. She asked who would like to play an instrument. I raised my hand. And so, at the beginning of grade four, I was given a cello. The teacher showed the class how to make sounds on our various instruments. I took the cello home that day and spent four hours in my room making sounds with it.”
After those four hours, Robert informed his parents that he intended to become a professional musician. It was not long before Ms. Loescher saw that Robert had a special love for his instrument.
“She gave me private lessons, took me to orchestras,” he says.
When Robert was eleven years old, his family moved from upstate New York to Charlotte, North Carolina. By this time, Robert’s parents had purchased him a cello, but he already sought new musical challenges.
“At my new school, I went to the music teacher and asked what else I could play,” Robert says. “‘Well,’ the teacher said, ‘we have an oboe.’ By that time, I could read music, which was helpful because the oboe is a very difficult instrument to start on.”
Robert continued his cello lessons, but also worked with a small toy organ he owned.
“I was making music all the time,” he remembers. “In grade nine, I played in the all-county band. I was fourth chair oboe out of four oboes. Around then I began taking private lessons on the oboe. The things you need to become a professional musician cannot be learned in a classroom. Nobody can give that to you, the drive, the discipline. It’s work. Making the commitment for private lessons is a good first step. I am lucky, I enjoy practicing.”
After graduating high school, Robert’s plan solidified within his mind: he would work as a professional musician. What form this eventually would take was yet to be determined.
“I attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA),” he explains. “My parents were freaked out when I told them I would be studying music at university. ‘Why don’t you do music on the side and get a real job?’ they asked me.”
It was a fair question, but since Robert was funding his education, the decision was his to make.
“‘Music will be my job,’ I told my parents. ‘But how?’ they asked. ‘I’ll do it,’ I told them. I was a stubborn kid. Now, they look at me and say, ‘Well, that worked out OK!’”
It is one thing to have a vision for one’s future, but it is quite another thing to actually make it happen.
Robert earned his bachelor’s degree in oboe performance and went on to earn a master’s degree in conducting. Today, Robert’s success looks like a foregone conclusion. While he was a work-in-progress? Not so much.
“I’ll tell you—when I got out of university, I couldn’t find a job,” he says. “So, I started my own orchestra, the Carolina Chamber Symphony. I learned to be an entrepreneur, how to manage an arts organization, learning the give-and-take it requires. I learned how to raise money,
how to sell tickets, how to work with a budget, how to create and act upon an artistic vision.”
These were among the skills that made Robert an attractive candidate when the role of music director, conductor, with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra (WSO) came open in 2013.
“When jobs come open, you apply for those which you feel you’re qualified for,” Robert explains. “I was Music Director of the Boise Philharmonic, and I wanted another music directorship, which usually run about fourteen weeks a year. I wanted to marry these together, apply to cities that were similar in size. I knew John Morris Russell, the former music director at WSO and called him when I saw the opening there. I said: ‘Tell me about this job.’ He told me that Windsor is a great community. So, I applied.”
Applications from around the world rolled into Windsor for this opening with the WSO—one hundred fifty-seven, to be exact. That number was slowly whittled down through a series of video interviews until the vetting committee narrowed onto eight candidates whom they invited to Windsor to guest conduct.
“I was number eight of eight,” Robert says. “And I was the one they chose.”
It is always satisfying landing a job, but there comes a moment when the excitement fades and reality asserts itself. The WSO was in a precarious position and there was real work ahead to ensure its sustainability. Robert’s administrative background was integral, but more was required of him.
“To get out of the hole the orchestra was in, we had to ramp up our work in the community,” he says. “That happens to be a passion of mine. One way we did this was through education work, not only holding concerts for students throughout Essex County, but sending a core of nineteen musicians to more than thirty schools per year. We’ve built the program up to where we play for over ten thousand kids each year.”
There is much that happens behind the scenes at WSO. The gifted musicians may seem to materialize onto the stage for performances, playing with preternatural precision, but their skill is the result of countless hours of practice. And the conductor… he does more than stand before them waving his arms. He has immersed himself in the music, into the organization. For instance, before this current season began, Robert had to finish programming for the next season. He must always be one season ahead. The unseen effort is worth it, however.
“We have stabilized the WSO,” he says. “It was not all me. It was the work of former Executive Director, Sheila Wisdom… and we have a strong board. We were on the same page. That’s big.”
The WSO has chosen to stay with its winning formula, signing Robert to a five-year contract extension, ensuring he will be in the city until 2030. The WSO musicians, staff and board, along with the new leadership of Patti Lauzon, Executive Director, have recently enjoyed sold-out performances signaling another new chapter in the WSO story.
Robert says: “I would love our community to understand that the quality of what we do is so much higher than many people realize. When we audition new musicians, we hire within the top ten percent of Canada’s best. The quality of musicianship is exceptional. We do wonders with the budget we’re given putting on one hundred twenty-five performances a year. The City of Windsor gives us the Capitol Theatre as our home, which means we have an acoustic space. I am very grateful for the support we have within this organization and throughout the community!”
To support the WSO or for tickets visit windsorsymphony.com.
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