Francisco Coll was born in Valencia in 1985. He is currently living in London where he is a fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a private pupil of Thomas Adès.

To date, Coll has composed three works for orchestra, several pieces for large ensemble, and chamber and instrumental music. His current project is a clarinet quintet Sguardo verso l’interno for this year’s Aldeburgh (17th June), Aix-en-Provence (4th July) and Verbier (30th July) festivals. He will also be writing two works for the Jove Orquestra de la Generalitat Valenciana in 2012, with whom he has just been appointed composer in residence. Recent projects have included a new piece, Piedras, commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic which was premiered at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in April 2011 under the baton of Thomas Adès, and an octet for members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In 2010 Óxido (2010), for soprano and ensemble was premiered at Wigmore Hall, London, under the baton of the composer.

His music has attracted many prizes and accolades, and the following comments:

'I have known Mr. Coll’s music for several years and have from the start been impressed by his ear for timbre and his highly personal sense of musical structure. His music displays an original and powerful sense of drama, and his ideas about music proceed from a strikingly
individual and unusual mind.'
(Thomas Adès)

'Meeting him for the first time made a huge impression on me: he was a young artist with a
strong belief, determination and his intentions as a composer were absolutely clear. Since that day I have seen Mr. Coll Garcia working continuously to ensure a craftsmanship in projecting his musical ideas and visions on the orchestral forces.
Mr. Coll Garcia has by now the craftsmanship which will enable him to go on and succeed
with large scale projects.'
(Magnus Lindberg)

Works now available through Faber Music Ltd. include:

Aqua Cinereus (2006) for large orchestra (12 mins)
The Eternal Present (2008) for trombone and orchestra (16 mins)
Cuando el niño era niño...(2008) for piano quartet (11 mins)
Hidd’n Blue (2009) for large orchestra (4 mins)
Óxido (2010) for soprano, clarinet, bass clarinet, contrabassoon and double bass (4 mins)
…de voz aceitunada (2010) for flute, viola and harp (12 mins)
Piedras (2009-11) for large ensemble of 16 players (15 mins)
Sguardo verso l’interno (2011) for string quartet and clarinet (10 mins)

More about the composer:

Since moving to the UK, Coll has been studying composition with Thomas Adès, as well as at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Richard Baker (through the support of the IVM Scholarship and the Guildhall Trust). He completed a Masters degree in composition with distinction in 2010, winning the Ian Horsburgh Memorial Prize for the best postgraduate composition. Coll also attended the 2009 Aldeburgh Summer Composition Course. In the same year his Hidd’n Blue (2009) for the London Symphony Orchestra was work-shopped and recorded as part of the LSO Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme.

His first commission, "...Whose name I don't want to remember" (2005) for double brass quintet, was premiered in Avery Fisher Hall of the Lincoln Center of New York, by Canadian Brass and the brass section of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Coll has also won several notable prizes including: the International Week of Chamber Music Prize (Montserrat, 2006) for El juego lúgubre for two pianos, and the National Award "Valencia Crea" for La Ciudad Paranoica (2007) for ensemble of 10 players. He also won the "Carmelo A. Bernaola" SGAE Prize for Cuando el niño era niño...(2008) for piano quartet. In 2006, his large orchestral work, Aqua Cinereus, was premiered on
the "Palau de la Musica", by the Philharmonic Orchestra of Valencia University conducted by Cristóbal Soler, and in 2010 Coll was chosen to represent Spain at the International Rostrum of Composers/UNESCO in Lisbon.

In addition to his composition studies, Coll has been studying trombone at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with John Kenny. Prior to this, Coll studied trombone at the Joaquín Rodrigo Conservatoire of Music in Valencia and the Royal Conservatoire of Music in Madrid graduating with Honours. As a trombonist he has collaborated with the Mediterraneo Symphony Orchestra, Filarmonía Orchestra, Grupo instrumental of Madrid, Torrent's City Symphony Orchestra, and was a member of the Youth Orchestra of the "Generalitat Valenciana" (JOGV) and the Valencia's University Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2005 he won the "Vicent Galbis" interpretation Prize, and in 2007 he won the young performers "Villa Castellnovo" Prize.