Composer-conductor Francisco Coll has found advocates in the world’s leading orchestras and ensembles, including the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, LA Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Lucerne Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Modern. His music has been heard at festivals from Aldeburgh, Aix and Aspen to the BBC Proms, Verbier and Tanglewood; his work is performed by leading instrumentalists, including Kirill Gerstein, Javier Perianes, Pekka Kuusisto, Sol Gabetta, Augustin Hadelich, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Sean Shibe, and Cuarteto Casals.

Born in Valencia in 1985, Coll studied at the Valencia and Madrid Conservatoires before moving to London to work privately with Thomas Adès (as his only pupil to-date) and with Richard Baker at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Coll’s concert opener Hidd’n Blue was premiered in 2012 by the London Symphony Orchestra and has since been taken up by the SWR Sinfonieorchester, Münchner Philharmoniker, and the Cincinnati Symphony. His 2014 chamber opera Café Kafka, to a text by Meredith Oakes, was premiered to great acclaim by Aldeburgh Music, Opera North and the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and has since been produced at Valencia’s Palau de les Arts; it receives its Czech premiere in a concert staging from NeoKlasik Orchestra in September 2024 at Prague's Café Louvre. 

In 2016 Coll made his BBC Proms debut with the Four Iberian Miniatures for violin and chamber orchestra, conducted by Thomas Adès. The same year Mural was premiered by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, who has become one of Coll’s strongest supporters. Turia, a concerto for guitar and seven players was premiered in 2017 by Jacob Kellerman and Norrbotten NEO conducted by Christian Karlsen; a version for guitar and chamber orchestra received its first performance in 2021 at the Uppsala International Guitar Festival.

In 2018-19 Coll was Composer-in-Residence with Camerata Bern, a position that culminated in the premiere of the Double Concerto Les Plaisirs Illuminés with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Sol Gabetta as soloists and the composer himself conducting. A Violin Concerto for Kopatchinskaja, commissioned by the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, London Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, the NTR ZaterdagMatinee and Bamberger Symphoniker, was premiered in February 2020. His Cello Concerto premiered with Sol Gabetta in 2022 with the Philharmonie de Paris, conducted by the composer, and recieved its UK premiere at the 2024 BBC Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Tianyi Lu. 

Plaisirs Illuminés, released on Alpha in 2021, features his double concerto for Kopatchinskaja and Gabetta, with Coll conducting Camerata Bern – in 2022 it won the BBC Music Magazine concerto prize. A portrait disc of his orchestral works, with Gustavo Gimeno conducting, was released on Pentatone in 2021.

In 2019 he became the first composer to receive an International Classical Music Award (ICMA). In 2022 he was awarded two more: the Orchestra award and the Contemporary Music prize for the orchestral portrait disc. Coll conducted his own music at the ICMA awards ceremony that year.

From 2018-2020 Coll was Composer-in-Residence with the Orquesta de València. In 2022 he conducted them in his new 11-minute orchestral work Lilith; 2022 also saw the Toronto Symphony Orchestra give the premiere of his latest orchestral work Elysian, and the premiere of Coll’s Piano Trio for Trio Isimsiz. Coll’s Cello Concerto for Sol Gabetta premiered with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in November 2022, conducted by the composer. In 2023 the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno  premiered Ciudad sin sueño¸ a new work for piano and orchestra for Javier Perianes, which made its North American debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. 

2024 sees Coll continue his multi-season role as Artistic Partner to the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias, as both composer and conductor, which began in autumn 2022. The 24/25 season also sees Kirill Gerstein premiere and tour Coll's Waltzes Towards Civilisation, as well as the Spanish premiere of Ciudad sin sueño. Coll's next stage work is based on Ibsen's An Enemy of the People. 

Francisco Coll is represented worldwide as a conductor by Askonas Holt.