The Academy let Franck conduct an orchestra in 1995, whereupon Jorma Panula enlisted him as a private student.

Franck entered Panula's conducting class at the Academy in 1996, leaving in 1998 as his international career began.

His first recording, of Jean Sibelius, received a Grammy nomination for "Best Orchestral Performance".

[5] Franck became music director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France in September 2015.

[7] Unusually for conductors, Franck generally conducts while seated in a chair due to a painful spine condition.