A Brit embracing Americana, Michael Francis takes over Florida Orchestra

Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 23rd September 2015

The new maestro of the Florida Orchestra walks into his empty office, sets down his briefcase and gestures to the empty bookshelves lining one wall.

“You can see I haven’t really done much with decor,” says Michael Francis, 39, who is about to debut as the fourth music director in the orchestra’s 48-year history.

For now, the only photos of his wife and infant daughter are on his phone. Yet the orchestra is transforming through this space, almost by the hour. For months, Francis has been preparing to lift the baton at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts and conduct Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3.

But before all of that, there is something else that has Francis’ attention, about which he is a little worried.

He was booked to throw out the first pitch at a Tampa Bay Rays game. Francis is athletic. In his native England, he played soccer, rugby, cricket and golf. Now he is supposed to throw a baseball 60 feet, 6 inches, as thousands of people watch.

For the Brit who is trying to ingratiate himself into American life, who is trying to become a face in Tampa Bay, this is more than just a pitch…