Michael Francis leads The Cleveland Orchestra in all-Czech program at Blossom

Timothy Robson, Cleveland Classical, 8th August 2018

“The Cleveland Orchestra played a concise and musically satisfying program of works by three Czech composers: Smetana, Janáček, and Dvořák. British conductor Michael Francis led the stylish performance…

[Šárka: The Warrior Woman, the third movement of Smetana’s symphonic cycle Má Vlast (“My Homeland”)] and throughout the concert, Francis drew well-formed phrasing and a clear musical line from the ensemble…

[Janáček’s Taras Bulba] was a dramatic and precise performance — Michael Francis was clearly attuned to the quirky twists and dramatic colors built into Janáček’s score. Conductor and players wove the many fragments into a united whole, all aimed toward the final radiance of Taras Bulba’s death scene.”