Gil French, American Record Guide, September/October 2015 "Francis conducted a truly triumphant concert...What an entertainment Mozart's Serenata Notturna was! The orchestra had bite, the Viennese string quartet (violin, viola, cello,…
Geoffrey Newman, Seen and Heard International, 13th August 2015 For a long time, I was suspicious of how good national youth orchestras could be. This all changed about 20 years…
Charles Pope Jr., Concerto.net, 30th July 2015 Canada’s National Youth Orchestra again gave a stunning summer performance in Ottawa during late July. As always, the orchestra comprised the cream of…
Arthur Kaptainis, Musical Toronto, 28th July 2015 The main event was Holst’s The Planets. Mars is in no danger of losing its bellicose reputation. All the same, the British conductor…
Jim Chute, U-T San Diego, 21st June 2015 The Mainly Mozart Festival’s “Mozart & the Mind” series was always a little puzzling, no matter how innovative and informative the presentations.…
Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 21st June 2015 "Michael Francis climaxed his first Mainly Mozart Festival with a rousing program that had Saturday’s (June 20) sold-out Balboa Theatre patrons on…
Garrett Harris, San Diego Reader, 12th June 2015 There is a unique event coming up on Sunday, June 14th, at 3 p.m. — a free concert at Balboa Park's Plaza…
Ken Herman, San Diego Story, 11th June 2015 "Ever since Robert Schumann proclaimed Felix Mendelssohn as 'the Mozart of the Nineteenth Century,' it has seemed entirely natural to program the…
Jim Chute, U-T San Diego, 10th June 2015 "...The Mendelssohn symphony that closed the program, the 'Italian' symphony, had plenty of light and warmth. Francis was careful to keep things…
Garrett Harris, San Diego Reader, 8th June 2015 "The final movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 made everyone’s temperature rise as wave after wave of sound washed over the audience.…
