.webp){kind=logo}
"British conductor Michael Francis made his Cleveland Orchestra debut Saturday night with a mostly English program…and concluded with a stunning realization of Vaughan Williams’ epic Symphony No. 2, a portrait of the city the composer lived in and loved for significant periods…Francis led a brilliant and committed performance of this large and colorful canvas of a symphony, keeping close rein on the sprawling structure of the huge first movement while eliciting countless lovely details from the orchestration. His grasp of the work’s drama was sure, and his ear for Vaughan Williams’ textures in the Lento and the Whistler-esque Scherzo — the former an essay in grays, mauves and muted blues, the latter a fantasia of pulsing darkness and flaring light — was all that could be hoped for."
“Beethoven. Fifth. Heard so many times before. But not like this. Great is too small a word, because what Michael Francis gets his orchestra to do when it comes to Beethoven is nothing short of incredible. Beethoven’s famous 5th has not sounded like this in a very, very long time. Definitely not when played by the State Philharmonic. That’s something only giants can do.”
Michael Francis has developed an international reputation for sharing the power of music through his dynamic conducting and engaging speaking.
Appointed Music Director of The Florida Orchestra in 2014, he is now entering his twelfth season with a contract extension through 2030, and his role in building transformative community-engagement initiatives has helped grow the organisation significantly. Francis has been Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego since 2014, with a contract renewal through the summer of 2029; Mainly Mozart is the largest gathering of concertmasters and principal players in North America. Now in his eighth season, Francis continues as Chief Conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz with a contract extension through 2029. Previously, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra fom 2012 to 2016.
This season, Francis returns to MDR Leipzig, the Orquesta Sinfonica de RTVE Madrid, Komische Oper Berlin, the North Carolina Symphony and the Charleston Symphony, and makes his debut with the Colorado Symphony, the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Belgrade Philharmonic. Previous highlights include North American performances with The Cleveland Orchestra and the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Toronto and Montreal, as well as the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In Europe he has conducted the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic, among others. In the UK - his home country - he has worked with the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. In Asia, Maestro Francis has worked with the NHK Symphony and the philharmonic orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Seoul.
Michael Francis has collaborated with notable soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, ltzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Anne Sophie Mutter, Javier Perianes, Anna Vinnitskaya, Hakan Hardenberger, Maximilian Hornung, Milos, Benjamin Grosvenor, Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, as well as popular artists such as Sting, Cynthia Erivo, Josh Groban, Seal, and many others.
Continuing his work with young musicians, Francis and The Florida Orchestra have launched a multi-year partnership with the University of South Florida, where he conducts the symphony orchestra and masterclasses. Alongside this extensive educational work, Francis is passionate about sharing the hidden truths in music with audiences worldwide through his acclaimed podium talks. His "Inside the Music" series and pre-concert talks in Florida have greatly helped develop new audiences, and an exciting series of "Keynote" presentations with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz was released on Naxos.
Francis's discography includes a recently released cycle of Malrler's re-orchestrations of Beethoven's symphonies and overtures with the Staatsphilharmonie on Capriccio, and the symphonic poems of Augusta Holmes on CPO. A recording of Dohnanyi's Symphony No. 2 will be released this autumn. Francis has also conducted the Rachmaninov piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the LSO on Decca, and Wolfgang Rihm's Lichtes Spiel with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the New York Philharmonic for Deutsche Grammophon.
A former double-bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January 2007, stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams with the LSO.
%20DSCF0375%20Curtis%20Perry%20copie.jpg)
