Saarbruecker Zeitung, 5th December 2016
“Michael Francis acted graciously on the podium. A guest conductor who is not only elegant with his baton but also inspires a sound sensuality with his gestures. In “Lullaby,” by the Polish composer Andrzej Panufnik, he creates an impeccable pianissimo work for strings. The simple folksong was brought to life […]
Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 12th November 2016
“Between such no-brainers in the Masterworks series, the orchestra sometimes works in a “concept concert,” performances built around a theme. This weekend’s Songs of the Sea: Britten, Elgar and Debussy is a prime example. Friday’s opening at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts […]
Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 5th November 2016
“The main attraction, Symphony No. 41, by Mozart, was thrilling in a different way…the music changes just at the moment you think you know where it is going.
It opens in a C-major key, a grand declaration, then seems to retract that promise in the next few bars […]
Peter Uehling, Berliner Zeitung, October 2016
“The soloists of Komische Oper were also in excellent form, embedded in a string sound manifoldly shaded by Michael Francis. In the “Sea Interludes” from Britten’s “Peter Grimes”, he showed a great sense of creating effects, in Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony he proved to be an enormously stringent (compelling) interpreter.”
Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 1st October 2016
“Hearing [Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9] live, as the Florida Orchestra gives us a chance to do with the opening of its season this weekend, renews appreciation as only a performance can. A full Morsani Hall at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts on […]
Andrew Meacham,Tampa Bay Times, 22nd September 2016
As a conductor of the Florida Orchestra, Michael Francis spends time on the details. He is the border collie nipping at the herd, the proofreader who preserves accuracy to the text, the timekeeper.
As music director, he revels in the big ideas. Francis, 40, opens the Florida Orchestra’s latest […]
Zachary Lewis, The Plain Dealer, 18th July 2016
“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 […]
Marcus Overton, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20th June 2016
“Two Mozart symphonies — nos. 5 and 52 — were played with an attention to detail that swept aside problems that always bedevil this transparent music: attacks and releases were immaculate, and intonation was superb.”
Stanwell Anderson, San Diego Reader, 18th June 2016
“…the level of [Schubert’s] counterpoint in the fourth movement is breathtaking, and my breath was surely taken away by the virtuosity of the MMF Orchestra, and their dapper, elegant, and gesticulationally eloquent conductor, Michael Francis.”
Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 16th June 2016
“Although most conductors pay scant attention to Schubert’s first four symphonies, Francis made a compelling case for Schubert’s Symphony No. 1 in D Major. Based on Joseph Haydn’s sturdy classical four-movement design, Schubert’s First Symphony sails through those well-charted waters with buoyant optimism. From the orchestra, Francis […]
