A native of Beauvais, France, François Kloc realized
his interest in musical instrument production at a young age. It
was a television program on the life of the famous French violin
maker Etienne Vatelot in 1981 that prompted the 14 year old François
to pursue a new art form. Music was certainly nothing new to
François, who at seven began playing oboe and a year later was
awarded the "Sujet du Royaume", a national young talent competition
junior award hosted by Radio France (French National Radio). In
1977, two years later, he competed again and won an intermediate
award, the "Chevalier du Royaume."
While
working towards his advanced diplomas in both oboe and bassoon
performance at the Beauvais Music Conservatory, François began an
intensive schedule of apprenticeships. He received his introduction
to oboe manufacturing at Mignot in Paris and later spent five years
at Rigoutat, also in Paris, where he learned the art of
manufacturing keys for all types of oboes. His time at Rigoutat was
interrupted for 1 year when he served as a musician in the 8th
Division of the French Infantry, the band used for official
functions at a Regional (Higher) level. It was here that François
honed his repair skills, as he was also responsible for the
maintenance and repair of all of the instruments in the Division.
Upon
completion of his apprenticeships, François began working at the
musical instrument retail store, Bertet, in Grenoble, France, where
he was the woodwind and brass instrument technician. At the same
time, he enrolled at the Institut Technologique Europeen des Métiers
de la Musique, a European School for the instruction of musical
instrument makers and technicians. He began working in the
wholesale music industry in 1991, when he became instrument
technician and final finisher for oboes at F. Loree de Gourdon in
Paris.
In 1995, François
joined Buffet Crampon, the world famous French maker of oboes and
clarinets and member of the Boosey & Hawkes group of companies.
During his two years at Buffet Crampon, he and René Lesieux,
Research and Development Manager for Buffet Crampon products, worked
on innovations within the clarinet and oboe families. In addition,
he traveled to Germany to view and assess the manufacturing of
bassoons and saxophones at Schreiber and Keilwerth, both companies
of Boosey & Hawkes.
François moved to the
United States in January of 1997 to work as Woodwind Product
Specialist at Boosey & Hawkes Musical Instruments, Inc., the North
American distributorship for Boosey & Hawkes group products. He
became a major creative force at Boosey & Hawkes, implementing the
Platinum Service, a quality control program, as well as providing
effective feedback to the Buffet Crampon, Schreiber and Keilwerth
factories.
In 2000, François became
Manager of Woodwinds North America for The Music Group (previously
Boosey & Hawkes). François was promoted to Director of Marketing
for Buffet Crampon USA, Inc. in 2005 and in 2007 was promoted to
Director of Sales & Marketing.
François was named Vice President of Buffet Group USA in 2011
following the reorganization of the company into Buffet Group. He
continues to lead the North American division of Buffet Group and
was named President and CEO of Buffet Group USA in January 2014.
He is also manager of the company’s roster of performing artists
and artist-clinicians and is a master woodwind technician.
François
is married to Sheila and
they have 3 children, Felix (16), Lucy (14) and Charlotte (12).
Francois is past president of the Alliance Française of Jacksonville
and is the Honorary Consul of France in Jacksonville.