Christopher Franke

From The Great Machine

[edit] Biography

Christopher Franke Biography (Short) Born in Berlin, Germany in April, 1953, Christopher Franke studied classical music and composition at the Berlin Conservatory. At that time he was influenced by such composers as Krzysztof Penderecki, John Cage and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and was actively involved in rock and jazz music.

Together with his composition teacher, Franke set up a sound studio within the music school. The improvisation courses they conducted resulted in a project that evolved into the Berlin School of Electronic Music. It was there that Christopher Franke met Edgar Froese and became a member of the group Tangerine Dream. One year later, Franke brought Peter Baumann into the band. Between 1970 and 1988, Tangerine Dream released 37 albums and composed scores for more than 30 feature films, including "Legend", "Sorcerer", "Thief", "Firestarter", and "Risky Business".

In 1991, Franke left the group and released his first solo album, "Pacific Coast Highway”. That same year he founded the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra and opened a new studio in Hollywood. In 1993, Christopher founded his own record label, "Sonic Images Records", and subsequently released numerous studio recordings and soundtracks. He has composed the music for feature films, such as the blockbuster "Universal Soldier", as well as for television, including the Sci-Fi series "Babylon 5". 1997 witnessed the release of Franke’s critically acclaimed "The Celestine Prophecy - A Musical Voyage", the companion CD to James Redfield's best seller "The Celestine Prophecy".

More recently, Franke completed the score to the movies “Tarzan and the Lost City” and “What The Bleep Do We Know?”. He is currently working on the new Elijah Wood movie “Hooligans”.

From Sonic Images website.