Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh, Sächsische Zeitung, 29th September 2014
“…Francis let the Philharmonic rage and struggle and directed them towards a desolate and yet delicate pianissimo at the finish [of Vaughan William’s 6th Symphony in E-Minor] which faded into nothing. Thundering applause for such expert endeavours.”
James Chute, U-T San Diego, 27th September 2014
“British conductor Michael Francis is the new music director of the San Diego Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra.
Mainly Mozart made the announcement Saturday at a gathering in Rancho Santa Fe for Club Amadeus, a group of the festival’s primary patrons. Francis has signed a three-year contract and his […]
Paul Corfield Godfrey, Seen and Heard International, 25th September 2014
“The programme for Janáček’s symphonic fantasy Taras Bulba is of a violent barbarism which makes Game of Thrones look like Paddington Bear, with each of its three movements describing the grisly death of a member of the same Cossack family. Nevertheless Janáček’s music manages to […]
Rian Evans, The Guardian, 24th September 2014
★★★★
“Works by Janáček and his Czech compatriot Bohuslav Martinů framed this concert given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Janáček’s programmatic symphony poem Taras Bulba tells the grisly tale of the eponymous leader of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and under the baton of Michael Francis, the picture of […]
Nicola Heywood Thomas, BBC Radio 3, 23rd September 2013
Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Available until 29th September 2014
Nicola Heywood Thomas introduces a live concert by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales from BBC Hoddinott Hall in Cardiff, with music by French and Czech composers, also celebrating the BBC Singers at 90. Janacek’s rhapsody tells the […]
John Fleming, Classical Voice North America, 12th September 2014
“And then there were four. Over the past couple of years, the largest professional orchestras in Florida all carried out music director searches in the same time frame.
Two of the ensembles – the Naples Philharmonic and the Sarasota Orchestra – had new artistic leadership under contract […]
Carol Main, The Scotsman, 2nd August 2014
★★★★★
“With considerable stamina required all round to sustain the continuous 50 minutes of lavish scoring – Wagner tubas, two sets of timpani, cowbells and all – conductor Michael Francis placed and paced his huge orchestral forces to ascend and descend in dramatic reflection of the Bavarian mountain views […]
Rodger Jones, Seen and Heard International, 2nd August 2014
“For some reason I have missed out on live performances of Richard Strauss in this his 150th anniversary year. I have not undertaken any mountaineering expeditions either, but that is beside the point. But I have now made up for these omissions thanks to the NYOS’s magnificent […]
Herald Scotland, 21st July 2014
“Michael Francis conducts the Usher Hall Gala, when the programme includes the huge Alpine Symphony of Richard Strauss and a reprise of the Concerto for Trumpet and Orchestra by Sally Beamish, commissioned by NYOS in 2003 and again featuring star trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger as soloist…”
Janos Gereben, San Francisco Classical Voice, 8th July 2014
“The global search went on for three years, but in the end it took just two key performances for Florida Orchestra leaders to know they had their conductor.
On Tuesday, they named British musician Michael Francis as the orchestra’s new music director…”
