Biography

“You are looking at the future of the guitar, right here!”

– Tommy Emmanuel, CGP

Frano Livingston (born Frano Živković, 2004) is an award-winning guitarist, composer and entertainer. He started showing his musical talent at the age of two and has played instruments since the age of three – violin, piano and his greatest love, the guitar. Equally at home in fingerstyle, blues-rock, acoustic, classical, crossover, jazz and gipsy jazz, he has given more than 400 concerts in 16 countries – in concert halls, at festivals, on TV and radio – and his full-evening concerts run two hours and more.

Early years

At the age of five (2010) Frano held his first solo classical guitar concert at the Music Academy of Zagreb, and he went on to win several international competitions in music theory and classical guitar.

At eight (2013) he finished elementary and middle music school with honours and was probably the youngest in the world to perform Vivaldi’s Chamber Concerto in D major, RV 93.

On his 10th birthday he played in a guitar orchestra with the famous Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (William Kanengiser, John Dearman, Matthew Greif and Scott Tennant), performing Shingo Fujii’s “Shiki: Seasons of Japan” in Nürtingen, Germany. The same year he released his first solo album, “It’s a Secret” (2015), featuring his original compositions.

With Tommy Emmanuel

Also at eight, Frano first performed with his greatest hero, Tommy Emmanuel, CGP. Their first joint performance took place in Croatia’s largest concert hall, Vatroslav Lisinski in Zagreb, followed by the Brucknerhaus in Linz (Austria), Teatro Rossetti in Trieste (Italy) and the Philharmonie am Gasteig in Munich (Germany). Many more shows followed, and in 2016/2017 Frano joined Tommy’s tour as special guest across Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg.

In 2017 Frano played Scotty Moore’s guitar (Elvis Presley’s lead guitarist) at the final evening concert of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. A year later, at the same convention, Tommy Emmanuel gave him one of the highest honours of his career – the original “Yellow Mouse” guitar, which Frano still plays today.

On stage with the stars

Frano has played with, toured with or opened for international stars such as 2Cellos, Dogstar (Keanu Reeves), Norah Jones, Gregory Porter, Al Di Meola, Tommy Emmanuel, John Scofield, Kiefer Sutherland, Manfred Mann, Kool & the Gang, Kaki King, Corrado Rustici & Zucchero, Canned Heat, Ten Years After, Mother’s Finest, Ian Paice and many more.

• 2015–2018 – SchoolTour and solo tours in Croatia, Germany and Sweden
• 2016/2017 – Tommy Emmanuel tour (Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg)
• 2018 – Al Di Meola, Opus tour
• 2019 – Canned Heat and Ten Years After tour

Composer and conductor

As the youngest member of the national composers’ society, Frano won the “Rudolf and Margita Matz” award for exceptionally talented young composers (2017). At fourteen he performed his own “Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra” with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (2018).

In 2024, at nineteen, he conducted his Life’s Orchestral Trilogy with the Rijeka Symphony Orchestra. On 17 May 2025 he gave a joint concert with the Young Musicians Orchestra from Zagreb at the Filodrammatica in Rijeka.

Recordings

• 2015 – It’s a Secret
• 2019 – Reason To Smile
• 2025 – The Graduation

Awards

• Several international competitions in music theory and classical guitar
• 2017 – “Rudolf and Margita Matz” award for young composers (age 12)
• 2022 – National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame, Horizon Award (age 17)
• 2024 – Croatian Music Union “Status” award, Best Acoustic-Electric Guitar Player (age 19)

Education

• 2019 – Music high school, theory department (graduated at 14)
• 2021 – Berklee College of Music, Composing and Orchestrating for Film and TV
• 2025 – Music Academy of Pula, graduated

Alongside his concert career, Frano organises and takes part in charity projects.