Review

Jim Farber, San Francisco Classical Voice, 20th October 2020 "It was an emotional moment reminiscent of the final scene in Field of Dreams, when Saturday night a seemingly endless line…

Markus Pacher, Die Rheinpfalz, 26th September 2020 "It remains a mystery how the State Philharmonic repeatedly manages to prove its reputation as an orchestral precision element despite these difficult times.…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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,…

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…

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…