Bill DeYoung, St. Pete Catalyst, 17th April 2020
The Florida Orchestra’s music director, Michael Francis, appeared in a wide-ranging Catalyst Sessions interview earlier this week. During a discussion of the organization’s new TFO At Home initiative, he described “a lot of content from us really trying to make sure people will feel very connected.”
TFO At […]
Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times, 23rd March 2020
The violins are late.
The players can’t hear it, but Michael Francis can. He knew he would. It’s common in this section of Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7, a complex whirlpool of interlocking tempos and dynamics. And if he can hear it, the audience might, too.
He waves his […]
David J Brown, LA Opus, 4th March 2020
“The combination of never having heard anything by Christopher Rouse performed live, nor yet a Paganini violin concerto or Rachmaninoff’s final symphony in a concert hall for nearly 30 years, was enough to make the PSO’s late February program stand out. Add to that the prospect of […]
Frank Pommer, Die Rheinpfalz, 16th February 2020
“Beethoven. Fifth. Heard so many times before. But not like this. Great is too small a word, because what Michael Francis gets his orchestra to do when it comes to Beethoven is nothing short of incredible. Beethoven’s famous 5th has not sounded like this in a very, […]
Matthias Ibelshäuser, Die Rheinpfalz, 30th January 2020
“First things first: combining this orchestra with this conductor [Michael Francis] was a stroke of fortune! It is rare to witness such enrapturing, rich and sonorous sounds, especially at performances of Tchaikovsky’s early work. Nothing is held back, nothing is kept in reserve, everyone is bathed in harmonies. […]
Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times, 12th December 2019
“Michael Francis raised his right hand.
Normally when he does this, he’s holding a baton, poised to swoop into a downstroke on a masterwork by Beethoven or Bach.
On Thursday, though, he held a microphone. In his other hand was a program marked with stars and stripes. Before him […]
Jane L. Levere, New York Times, 23rd October 2019
“From January through May next year, the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, Fla., will display over 100 set designs and original costumes from the Tobin Collection of Theatre Arts in a traveling exhibition developed by the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio. It will […]
Jay Cridlin, Tampa Bay Times, 13th September 2019
Back in March, the Florida Orchestra collaborated with St. Petersburg artist Geff Strik on a multimedia performance of Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklarte Nacht. Strik painted a series of scenes inspired by the piece, which were filmed and projected above the orchestra during the concert.
Among those knocked out by […]
Holly Harris, Ludwig van Toronto, 31st July 2019
“To paraphrase a pithy bon mot popularly attributed to Walt Kelly, ‘We have seen the future of Canadian classical music, and it is the National Youth Orchestra of Canada.’
The NYO under the baton of world-renowned British conductor Michael Francis stopped at Koerner Hall on Monday, July 29th […]
Caroline Rodgers, Ludwig van Montréal, 23rd July 2019
“With 94 musicians, the mass of sound is largely sufficient, the dynamic contrasts are underlined with broad strokes, and the path is drawn so that the listener understands everything happening in real time.
We can’t help but be amazed by such an eloquent [Symphony No. 5 by Mahler] […]
