Franco Garrido is an emerging Chilean conductor whose broad musical background shapes his work with orchestras.

Born in Traiguén, Chile, he began his musical training at the age of seven, learning piano, guitar, flute, percussion, saxophone, bass, and a variety of traditional Chilean instruments before concentrating on the violin. His teachers include Patricio Muñoz, Verónica González, Carla Onetto, Cordula Wicks, Juan Carlos Soto, Theodora Geraets, and Esther Hoppe, and he participated in masterclasses with Boris Bardenhagen, Lynn Blakeslee, Mayumi Seiler, Heidi Litschauer, Cuarteto Latinoamericano, Marc Danel, and Eszter Haffner.

His early fascination with a wide range of instruments and the diverse colors of orchestral music naturally drew him toward conducting. While completing his violin studies at the Mozarteum University, he began conducting training with Herbert Böck (choral and orchestral conducting) and Gernot Sahler (opera). Upon graduating in violin, he devoted himself fully to conducting, studying with Martin Fuchsberger and Jorge Rotter, and participating in masterclasses with eminent conductors such as Christian Thielemann, Helmuth Reichel Silva, Markus Poschner, Matteo Pagliari, and Ricardo Castro.

He has worked with ensembles including the Bruckner Orchester Linz, Bad Reichenhaller Philharmoniker, Universitätsorchester Dresden, and the Academia de Orquestas Latinoamericanas. In 2025, he was appointed Assistant Conductor for the prestigious Portillo Festival in Chile.

His studies with Prof. Reinhard Goebel further deepened his expertise in historically informed performance of pre-19th-century repertoire.

As a violinist, Garrido has served as concertmaster with the Symphony Orchestra of the Mozarteum University, the Orquesta de Cámara Universidad Austral, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Regional de los Ríos. He has also performed with institutions such as the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Araucanía, Philharmonie Salzburg, Salzburger Konzertgesellschaft, Agentur Orpheus, and Oper im Berg.

Beyond the concert hall, Garrido is deeply committed to music education as a tool for social development. From 2011 to 2018, he worked extensively with indigenous communities in southern Chile, bringing music instruction to remote mountain schools. This initiative, sustained by the Papageno Music School and founded by the Viennese baritone Christian Boesch, continues to provide free, high-quality music education to children who would otherwise have no access to it.