Born in France in 1966, Franck Villard studied in Paris at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique. He has conducted numerous operas at venues across France, and has conducted the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Marseille, the Orchestre de Bretagne, and the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, among many others. He has also worked as chorus-master at the Zurich Opera alongside Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Michel Plasson, going on to become the latter’s Assistant Conductor in Toulouse. He has continued to work closely with Plasson, acting as his assistant at the Opéra National du Rhin, the Wiener Konzerthaus, Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and the Athens Megaron, among others. Franck Villard is the composer of Neuf Répons des Ténèbres du Jeudi Saint for a cappella chorus; Quasi una Fantasia, for organ (première in Paris in 2008); the dramatic monologue Ariadne Theseo; and the contelyrique L’Enfant et la Nuit.