Frank Pommer, Die Rheinpfalz, 14th September 2020
“Chief conductor Michael Francis and artistic director Beat Fehlmann were able to come up with a very appealing, COVID-19-compliant replacement program, which let all wind (and double bass) musicians play first and then it was the string players’ turn. We have not seen this many musicians on a […]
Gabor Halasz, Die Rheinpfalz, 27th June 2020
“The joy of music is unwavering, and so is the quality of music performance. This was illustrated once again by the German State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate, whose chamber music ensemble played in the Ludwigshafen Palatinate Building. The performance of its principal conductor Michael Francis also justified its place […]
David J Brown, LA Opus, 4th March 2020
“The combination of never having heard anything by Christopher Rouse performed live, nor yet a Paganini violin concerto or Rachmaninoff’s final symphony in a concert hall for nearly 30 years, was enough to make the PSO’s late February program stand out. Add to that the prospect of […]
Frank Pommer, Die Rheinpfalz, 16th February 2020
“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, […]
Matthias Ibelshäuser, Die Rheinpfalz, 30th January 2020
“First things first: combining this orchestra with this conductor [Michael Francis] was a stroke of fortune! It is rare to witness such enrapturing, rich and sonorous sounds, especially at performances of Tchaikovsky’s early work. Nothing is held back, nothing is kept in reserve, everyone is bathed in harmonies. […]
Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times, 12th December 2019
“Michael Francis raised his right hand.
Normally when he does this, he’s holding a baton, poised to swoop into a downstroke on a masterwork by Beethoven or Bach.
On Thursday, though, he held a microphone. In his other hand was a program marked with stars and stripes. Before him […]
Holly Harris, Ludwig van Toronto, 31st July 2019
“To paraphrase a pithy bon mot popularly attributed to Walt Kelly, ‘We have seen the future of Canadian classical music, and it is the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.’
The NYO under the baton of world-renowned British conductor Michael Francis stopped at Koerner Hall on Monday, July 29th […]
Caroline Rodgers, Ludwig van Montréal, 23rd July 2019
“With 94 musicians, the mass of sound is largely sufficient, the dynamic contrasts are underlined with broad strokes, and the path is drawn so that the listener understands everything happening in real time.
We can’t help but be amazed by such an eloquent [Symphony No. 5 by Mahler] […]
Jim Farber, San Francisco Classical Voice, 25th June 2019
“The concert at the Balboa Theater in downtown San Diego (a beautifully restored and acoustically bright former movie palace) began with Mozart’s Symphony No. 38, K. 504 (Prague) with it’s rich, dramatic phrasing and orchestration that would inspire a young Beethoven, followed by the Piano Concerto […]
Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 14th June 2019
“Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 in F Minor, “La passione,” speaks the language of spiritual drama rather than Mozart’s realm of social and class drama. Especially in the symphony’s expansive slow opening movement, Francis discovered the power of understatement, and the orchestra responded with its most compelling sonority […]
