Franck Braley (born February 4, 1968, in Corbeil‑Essonnes, France) began piano studies at age four with his mother, making his orchestral debut at just ten with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France. After initially pursuing scientific studies at university, at age eighteen he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, studying with Pascal Devoyon, Christian Ivaldi and Jacques Rouvier—and graduated with unanimous First Prizes in both piano and chamber music  . In 1991, he won both the First Grand Prize and the Audience Prize at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth Competition in Belgium—an achievement widely hailed by the press and public as that of a major artist with exceptional musical and poetic qualities  . Since 2011, he has held a professorship at the Paris Conservatoire and from 2014 to 2020 served as musical director of the Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie.