Born in Umeå on 22nd January 1946, grew up in Köping. He studied at the State Academy of Music in Stockholm: music teaching class 1966-1977, solo cello class 1967-1972 under Gunnar Norrby. He also studied composition with Ingvar Lidholm 1969-1973. In the spring of 1975 Franzén went on an educational journey to Canada. He has been extensively active as a per forming musician. He was a cellist with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (1971-1972), and with Harpans Kraft (1971-1977), giving several performances of newly written music. He has been a freelance musician in Härnösand since 1977, leader of the HND Ensemble since 1978 and a member of the Sundsvall Chamber Orchestra since 1983. His distinctions include the 1983 Härnösand Municipal Arts Prize.
In several of Franzén’s compositions one perceives an atmosphere of self-absorption. His imagination has an innermost core of sensibility, and he has an unmistakable feeling for nature, one of the outward and visible/audible signs of which is his variegated commitment to the campaign against the destruction of the environment (Ode to Sjaunja for choir and recitation). An inward but equally conspicuous sign is his capacity for depicting shimmering changes of light: different fields of sound glide smoothly in and out of one another, gentle lines are evolved and the overall form is kept in balance. In this respect the orchestral piece Saiva (1973) is one of his most successful compositions. H-G P Photo Lars Torndahl