News

Review

Julian Sykes, Le Temps, 25th May 2016

“Michael Francis had chosen two English composers of the 20th century to compliment the programme – a happy combination. Combining elegance and ardour , the British conductor gave the utmost expressiveness to the Fantasie on a Theme of Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams without lapsing into […]

Listen to Michael’s Live Interview with Jack Harris from WFLA 970

26th April 2016

Hear Michael’s interview live with Jack Harris on WFLA 970 at 7:40am EST.

Music review: BBC SSO at City Hall, Glasgow

Michael Tumelty, Hearld Scotland, 24th April 2016

★★★★★

“NO holds barred here, ladies and gentlemen. Five stars all round. The BBC SSO on Thursday night, playing as though there was no tomorrow, and this was their only chance to do it, produced a scorcher of a concert with conductor Michael Francis, a new name to me, […]

Shakespeare Lives: Dream On

BBC, 23rd April 2016

Students from The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow University and Glasgow School of Art collaborate with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra on a programme of delights featuring music, dance, composition and British Sign Language.

The performance features four intertwining pieces inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, including a special recording by David […]

Classical Review

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.”

Florida Orchestra announces Sing Out! Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Newspaper, 11th April, 2016

This spring new Music Director Michael Francis will lead The Florida Orchestra will present its first-ever “Sing Out! Tampa Bay” concert Tuesday, April 26, 7 to 9 p.m., at the Mahaffey Theater, 400 First St. S., St. Petersburg. Admission is “pay what you can.”

Led by Michael Francis, TFO’s […]

Mozart & More

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 […]

Three Great San Diego Moments of Music From 2015

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 […]

Tampa Bay’s best concerts of 2015

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 […]

2015 National Youth Orchestra of Canada CD Released

NYO Canada, 17th November 2015

Enjoy NYO Canada’s sensational performance of Holst’s The Planets, Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances, and two new pieces from Canadian composers; Emilie LeBel’s (RBC Emerging Composer) monograph of bird’s eye views and Alfredo Santa Ana’s (NYO Canada Emerging Composer) Ocaso.

Under the baton of acclaimed conductor Michael Francis, the 2015 NYO Orchestra spent […]