Jean René Désiré Françaix (23 May 1912–25 September 1997) was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style. Françaix's natural gifts were encouraged from an early age by his family: his father a musicologist, composer, and pianist, and his mother, a teacher of singing. He was only six when he took up composing, and his first publication, in 1922, caught the attention of a composer working for the publishing house who steered the gifted boy toward a gifted teacher, Nadia Boulanger.

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