Concert Schedule 2011 / 2012

Annette Eckerle, Stuttgarter Zeitung, 21st January 2012
“The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra played ingeniously, as Francis courageously, brilliantly and analytically conducted.”

Mary Ellyn Hutton, Concertonet.com, 2nd March 2012
“…Francis, making his own auspicious debut with the orchestra, led it with gusto, from the opening low brass blasts of the “Dragon’s Dance” to the concluding, jubilant “Hei”! shouted by orchestra and conductor……Francis, 35, an up-and-comer with the knack for stepping in at the last minute for conductors including Valery Gergiev and John Adams, closed the concert with Dvorák’s Symphony No. 7. Tall and lithe, the British conductor (a former double bassist with the London Symphony Orchestra) cuts a fine figure on the podium. (It does not hurt him that he bears a passing physical resemblance to the legendary Carlos Kleiber.) Francis utilized sweeping, but precise gestures – no funny business — and conveyed a sense of joy and confidence. He crafted the climax of the opening movement with a sense of inevitability, thereby heightening its emotive power. He summoned deep feeling in the second movement and infused energy and lilt into the Scherzo. He saved the gravitas of the Symphony for the final movement, whose closing, chorale-like motive soared majestically.”

Michael Bruze, Norrköpings Tidningar, 11th May 2012
“Conductor Michael Francis is the right man to steer the barge full of tone colours. His stroke technique is informative, effective and engaging. As a result, he gets a detailed picture orchestra.”

Steven Kruger, The Berkshire Review, 26th July 2012
“At times [Michael Francis] got us clapping along in such good spirits we might as well be at the Albert Hall Proms. The young Englishman has now conducted several summer seasons in San Francisco and is a great hit with our audience, bringing just the right touch of knowing wit, uncomplicated musicality, good spirits and schoolboy snark to the proceedings……[He is] the sort of conductor whose gestures a listener can read intuitively. His body makes a movement – and something audible happens. [He] moves with the music in an unbuttoned way, at high energy, as a good dancer would…it is abundantly clear that Francis “gets” it – and us……No one has come along who quite could dance as [Bernstein] did in this music – and still break your heart at the same time. Michael Francis almost did on Thursday.”