Ken Walton, The Scotsman, 22nd April 2016
“The spatial dimensions of the Ives [The Unanswered Question] – the distant but increasingly insistent solo trumpet in the audience gallery, the increasingly discordant flute responses up in the choir stalls, against the sonic blank canvas of strings on stage – were a theatrical thrill.”
Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 23rd January 2016
“With Mozart & More, which opened Friday at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Francis and the orchestra sandwiched a piano concerto and a symphony by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart between Igor Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks concerto and a percussion composition by John Cage relying […]
Garrett Harris, San Diego Reader, 31st December 2015
“If there were a concert that was full of the most great moments, it would have been the Mainly Mozart Festival’s concert of Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Jon Kimura Parker further solidified his place as one of San Diego’s favorite guests.
The […]
Sharon Kennedy Wynne, Tampa Bay Times, 31st December 2015
“I love how fancy it makes me sound to say that my favorite concert of the year was the debut of Michael Francis as music director of the Florida Orchestra. The Oct. 2 Masterworks concert featured a dazzling pianist on Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 3 and […]
Tom Aldridge, Nuvo, 19th October 2015
“[Michael] Francis, with crisp, exacting baton work, got corresponding playing from his orchestra: perfect phrasing, excellent dynamic shaping, continuous precision. After experiencing that opener [Mendelssohn’s Overture to Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Op. 27], I expected and got similar finesse in the Tchaikovsky, and especially in the big closing […]
Jay Harvey, Jay Harvey Upstage, 17th October 2015
“Francis and the ISO caught the becalmed mood of the first part of “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” perfectly, which made the transition to the energetic second half of the piece all the more exciting. The ensemble exhilaration was well-maintained right through to the triumph of […]
Gil French, American Record Guide, September/October 2015
“Francis conducted a truly triumphant concert…What an entertainment Mozart’s Serenata Notturna was! The orchestra had bite, the Viennese string quartet (violin, viola, cello, and string bass) was sweet, the timpani was boisterous, and all the strings were crisp and pungent with facetious pizzicatos. The quartet’s solos in the […]
Geoffrey Newman, Seen and Heard International, 13th August 2015
For a long time, I was suspicious of how good national youth orchestras could be. This all changed about 20 years ago when I heard Christopher Seaman put the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain through its paces at the Barbican and bring an unforgettable freshness […]
Charles Pope Jr., Concerto.net, 30th July 2015
Canada’s National Youth Orchestra again gave a stunning summer performance in Ottawa during late July. As always, the orchestra comprised the cream of top young players, most of them already well launched on careers as orchestral musicians and future teachers. A good deal of the credit this year […]
Arthur Kaptainis, Musical Toronto, 28th July 2015
The main event was Holst’s The Planets. Mars is in no danger of losing its bellicose reputation. All the same, the British conductor Michael Francis managed to add an edge by upping the tempo while keeping articulation clear. Seldom has that quintuple beat sounded so convincingly like a […]
