‘Our superhero’: Windsor Symphony mourns music director Robert Franz

Robert Franz is shown promoting a superhero-themed concert outside the Capitol Theatre in April 2024. (Source: Windsor Symphony Orchestra)

Robert Franz spent more than a decade lifting the Windsor Symphony Orchestra to new heights. Now, the community is mourning the music director’s death at the age of 57, following his second battle with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

“Everybody here is grieving and has suffered a huge loss,” said WSO Board Chair Deborah Severs.

Franz had helmed the Windsor Symphony Orchestra since 2013. Over those 12 years, he shaped its artistic voice, expanded its reach, and cultivated a vision that resonated well beyond Windsor.

“Robert is an influencer — how we survived COVID, but how we came out of COVID, how he reshaped concert series,” said chorus master Bruce Kotowich. “Watching him work was like a master class every time.”

During the pandemic, Franz pivoted the symphony to digital concerts and online education programming, including the “Read-Aloud” series for children that remains accessible to this day.

Under his leadership, the WSO also released Christmas, eh?, its first commercial recording in 15 years.

Franz’ husband, Brandon Atkins, posted on Facebook Wednesday morning, saying, “Rest well my handsome prince. You fought valiantly and loved me fiercely. I could not have had a more brilliant love to share this adventure. Thank you for making my life infinitely brighter with you in it. Make sure you shine down on me a little extra today. I’m feeling incredibly raw and missing you.” 

Born March 10, 1968, Franz grew up with early musical dreams and went on to earn his bachelor’s in oboe performance and master’s in conducting from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

Before leading the WSO, he held posts with the Mansfield Symphony, the Boise Philharmonic, and the Houston Symphony, and directed the Boise Baroque Orchestra.

In Windsor, Franz became known as much for his community-building as for his artistry. He spearheaded school concerts, partnerships with arts institutions, and digital series that brought orchestral music into homes and classrooms across Canada and the U.S.

Severs recalled that, following his initial cancer diagnosis in 2021, Franz asked to volunteer at the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre

“He was there many mornings with this huge smile on his face greeting everybody that came into the Cancer Center,” she said.

Franz was first diagnosed with Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in late 2021, after symptoms led to imaging that revealed a tumor in his shoulder.

He underwent chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and steroids, and was declared in remission in 2022.

In early 2025, the lymphoma returned, and he underwent further treatment before his death on Sept. 2, 2025. He leaves behind his husband, Brandon, and their three daughters.

AM800 talk radio show host Dan MacDonald was a longtime friend of Franz’s and his passion and dedication for his craft oozed out of the stage and into the crowd

“He loved what he did. He loved the community, and he had that little glint in his eye,” said MacDonald “He always said, ‘I take the music seriously. I don’t take myself too seriously.’ That was Robert. He was just the real deal, an authentic guy who will be so greatly missed.”

Plans are underway for a celebration of life at the Capitol Theatre — an event Franz had already envisioned in his mind, according to his colleagues, down to the music that will play and who will speak.

“We will do everything we can to honour his last requests and what he wanted in terms of his celebration of life,” said Severs.

One of her best memories of Franz, she said, is watching him don a cape for the many “superhero concerts” he organized over the years.

“He would come out on stage and he would be this big character, but he was really a maestro superhero,” said Severs.

“He didn’t have to put a costume on because, honestly, he really was our superhero for all of us here at the Windsor Symphony Orchestra. He really was.”