Cultural DistrictClick here to go back to the home page

Andrés Franco is a nonprofit executive and orchestral conductor. He is the inaugural Executive Director of DNAWORKS, an organization dedicated to dialogue and healing through the arts.  He currently serves on the Exposure Advisory Committee of The Pittsburgh Foundation and the WQED Community Advisory Board.

A frequent guest conductor in the U.S., Europe, and South America, Andrés has appeared with the symphonies of Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Eugene, Fort Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Omaha, and St. Louis; the philharmonic orchestras of Boise and Oklahoma City; the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra, and the Chicago Sinfonietta. Worldwide, he has conducted the Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Perú, Bogotá Philharmonic, Medellín Philharmonic, and EAFIT Symphony Orchestra. He has also appeared at the Cabrillo, Grant Park, OK Mozart, Oregon Bach, Round Top, and Texas Music festivals.

Andrés served five seasons as Music Director of Tulsa’s Signature Symphony and Resident Conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony. He has also served as Associate, then Resident Conductor of the Fort Worth Symphony, and Music Director of the Philharmonia of Kansas City. 

From 2020 to 2023, Andrés served as Executive Director of City of Asylum, an organization devoted to building a just community by protecting and celebrating creative free expression. 

Born into a musical family, Andrés Franco began piano studies with his father, Jorge Franco. He studied with Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Jose Feghali and attended piano workshops with Rudolph Buchbinder in Switzerland and Lev Naumov in France. Andrés studied conducting with Marin Alsop, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Helmut Rilling, Gerard Schwarz, Leonard Slatkin, Gustav Meier, and Kurt Masur.

Andrés Franco holds a bachelor’s degree in piano performance from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia, and Master of Music degrees in piano performance and conducting from Texas Christian University. He is married to Victoria Luperi, associate principal clarinet and principal E-flat clarinet of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Described by the Maryland theatre guide as having a “stunning, and luminous timbre,” Corrie Stallings is gaining quick acclaim for her work on both operatic and concert stages around the country.

The 2017-2018 season brought Ms. Stallings back to Pittsburgh opera, where she was a resident artist from 2014-2016, to sing Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro. She then made her role and company debut with Washington concert opera singing Isoletta in Bellini’s rarely performed La Straniera, where her performance was described as “one of the highlights of the evening, a voice capable of chesty strength and silvery lightness” (Washington Classical Review).

In the 2016-2017 season, Ms. Stallings made her company and role debut as Angelina in La Cenerentola with Syracuse Opera before traveling to Toulouse and Bordeaux, France to remount Francesca Zambello’s production of Candide at Opéra National de Bordeaux and Théâtre du Capitole. After receiving first prize in the 2017 Gerda Lissner international vocal competition, Ms. Stallings went on to win third place in the Giulio Gari International vocal competition before returning to the Santa Fe opera for a second season as an apprentice artist to cover Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus in summer of 2017.

In Pittsburgh’s 2015-16 season, she performed Jo in Adamo’s Little Women and Rosina in Rossini’s il Barbiere di Siviglia. In 2014-15, she appeared as Bertarido in Handel’s Rodelinda and Mercedes in Bizet’s Carmen. In December of 2015, Ms. Stallings made her debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as the alto soloist in Mozart’s coronation mass under the baton of Maestro Honick and returned to Denver, CO to perform the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah with the Colorado symphony. 

In summer 2015, Ms. Stallings was a member of the Young American Artists program at Glimmerglass Festival and appeared as jazz trio girl in Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti and covered Vanderdunder & Paquette in Bernstein’s Candide.

Ms. Stallings was a festival artist with opera theatre of saint louis in 2013 and 2014, where she performed as third lady in the Magic Flute under the baton of Jane Glover, and covered Stephanie Blythe in the role of Gertrude Stein in the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27, both in 2014. She also performed the role of Kate in The Pirates of Penzance in 2013. Additionally in 2013, Ms. Stallings was a soloist in Chicago symphony orchestra’s Christmas production, welcome, yule! As well as the alto soloist cover in Bach’s mass in b minor under the baton of Maestro Muti. In 2012, she was the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, and was a 2013 third place regional finalist in the metropolitan opera national council regional auditions. While pursuing her master’s degree at northwestern university, Ms. Stallings performed the roles of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro, Samira in the Ghosts of Versailles, and second lady in Die Zauberflote.

A native of the San Francisco bay area, Ms. Stallings holds a B.A. in vocal performance and art history from Cal Poly State University and a M.M. in opera performance from northwestern university. She now resides in Pittsburgh, pa.