Karl Georg Berg, Die Rheinpfalz, 9th March 2019
“Symphony No. 2 in D major (Op. 36) by Beethoven was charged with explosive energy by the British maestro Michael Francis from the very first bar. Quick time measures (quite true to Beethoven’s metronome specifications), a dry sound, sharp contrasts with effectively utilized moments of surprise—these were […]
Ron Bierman, Broadway World, 22nd January 2019
“British conductor Michael Francis is known to San Diego concert goers as the music director of the city’s Mainly Mozart Festival. Since taking the job four years ago he has embarked on an ambitious chronological survey of the music of the composer who inspired the festival’s name. On […]
Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 19th January 2019
“[Michael Francis] did successfully refreshed Berlioz’ Symphonie fantastique for his listeners’ ears. Maintaining sparkling, transparent textures, choosing exquisitely calibrated tempos, and keeping the drama alive without ever overplaying his hand brought these familiar musical episodes into sharp, arresting focus. It was like viewing for the first […]
Bill DeYoung, St. Pete Cataylst, 15th January 2019
Suave, erudite and comfortable in a tuxedo, native Londoner Michael Francis could very well be Tampa Bay’s James Bond – if, that is, 007 had wavy red hair, a baby face and an overwhelming obsession with symphonic music.
Michael Francis prefers listeners be stirred, not […]
Palatinate Ticker, Die Rheinpfalz, 6th December 2018
Born in 1976, British conductor Michael Francis was introduced on Thursday at the Ludwigshafen Philharmonic as the new chief conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. He succeeds Karl-Heinz Steffens and from September 2019 will take over the musical responsibility of the most important Rhineland-Palatinate orchestra – in time […]
Chuck Lavazzi, KDHX, 25th November 2018
“It has been a few years since my wife and I have been to London, but I feel like we took another visit there Friday night (November 23) with that wonderfully evocative performance of Vaughan Williams’s “A London Symphony” by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra under the baton […]
Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 24th November 2018
“Francis made a masterful case for [Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 2, “A London Symphony,”], aided by the orchestra.”
Andrew Meacham, Tampa Bay Times, 9th November 2018
“[T]he Florida Orchestra and the Florida Holocaust Museum collaborate to remember Kristallnacht, the ‘night of broken glass,’ and uplift its victims. This weekend’s concert series, A Child of Our Time, opened Friday at the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts. British composer Michael Tippett, […]
Timothy Robson, Cleveland Classical, 8th August 2018
“The Cleveland Orchestra played a concise and musically satisfying program of works by three Czech composers: Smetana, Janáček, and Dvořák. British conductor Michael Francis led the stylish performance…
[Šárka: The Warrior Woman, the third movement of Smetana’s symphonic cycle Má Vlast (“My Homeland”)] and throughout the concert, Francis drew […]
Mark Satola, The Plain Dealer, 6th August 2018
“Guest conductor Michael Francis, music director of the Tampa Bay-based Florida Orchestra since 2015, delivered electrifying performances of Smetana’s “Sarka,” Janacek’s “Taras Bulba,” and the dramatic Symphony No. 7 in D minor by Dvorak, to a medium-sized audience. Those who didn’t attend missed one of the most […]
