"...stellar performance, with effusive zeal"
Hannah Edgar, Chicago Classical Review
Member of the Quijote Duo, Music of the Americas Project and the Louisiana Philharmonic, Sixto is a music and performing arts enthusiast. A versatile performer, teacher and composer, Sixto has concertized in Europe, United States, Mexico and Uruguay. Sixto Franco is passionate about chamber music and has had the honor to perform with Eighth Black Bird, International Chamber Artists, Symbiosis Ensemble in L.A., the Kaia String Quartet, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and the Gesher Music Festival in St. Louis, MO. Recently, Sixto has made an appearance in “Broadcast from home”, a highly collaborative project created and developed by composer and community-maker Lisa Bielawa.
Soloist appearances include the Camerata Musicalis, Chamber Orchestra of Salamanca, the Lira Castellonera Symphonic Band, Spain and the Thornton Music School Chamber Orchestra, He has also served in the Santa Barbara Chamber orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, the Elgin Symphony, and the Chicago Philharmonic, in addition to having performed with artists such as Paquito D ́Rivera, Fareed Haque, Ernie Adams, Robert McDuffy, Mike Mills, Steve Larson, Midori and Austin Wintory.
The creative side of Sixto Franco has pushed him to venture into composition. He has written music for different mediums such as chamber music, theater and dance. He made his debut on February 2011 premiering his work “Blanco y Negro” in a Cancer Benefit Concert promoted by the Spanish Consulate in Los Angeles. The “malArte Association” of Valencia, Spain, commissioned and premiered his piece Five “O’clock Tabu” as the soundtrack for the interdisciplinary work with the same title. His last collaboration included the Chicago’s Tiffany Lawsome Dance Company resulting on the creation of “Calm Panic” for solo viola and dancer. Quijote Duo regularly includes his works in their repertoire.
Sixto Franco has released three albums: “Latino Music for Guitar and string quartet” (2018) released by DelMark records, “Latinoamerica” (2015) and “Quartango” (2016) as a member of the Chicago based Kaia String Quartet. In addition to these, a collaboration with LA based pianist and composer Nikos Siropoulos resulted in the creation of Syropoulos first album, “Rozalia”.
Sixto is a Master Graduate from Thornton School of Music at University of Southern California and has earned a Performance Degree in Chamber Music studies at the Northern Illinois University.
Sixto and his wife Rachel, an amazing lighting designer, enjoy taking their three-year-old daughter, Odessa, to music, theater and dance shows all over Chicago