_____________________________________________ M I C H A E L F R A N C I S Conductor _______________________________________ ichael Francis has quickly established himself 2014/2015 conduct return engagements with the BBC M as an international conductor creating National Orchestra of Wales, RTÉ National ongoing relationships with the world’s leading Symphony of Ireland, the Dresden Philharmonic, orchestras. He came to prominence as a conductor in and the symphonies of Oregon, Cincinnati, Ottawa January 2007 when he replaced an indisposed and Pittsburgh. Valery Gergiev for concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra during the BBC His European engagements have included the Gubaidulina festival at the Barbican Centre. Only English Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre one month later, Francis was asked, this time with de Lausanne, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid, only two hours’ notice, to replace the Helsinki Philharmonic, the Mariinsky Orchestra, composer/conductor John Adams in a performance Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, and of his own works with the LSO at the Philharmonie Stuttgart Radio Symphony. Luxembourg and one short year later, January 2009, he replaced André Previn leading a German tour of Michael Francis’ 2010 debut with the San Francisco the Stuttgart Radio Symphony. Symphony quickly established a formidable relationship with the orchestra. He has now led Recently appointed Music Director for the Florida twenty-one different classical programs and three Orchestra in the Tampa Bay area, Michael Francis New Year’s Eve programmes with the orchestra. will assume his new role September 2015. He is also in his third season as Chief Conductor and Artistic In Asia, Michael Francis has worked with Japan Advisor to Sweden’s Norrköping Symphony Philharmonic, Tokyo Symphony, Hong Kong Orchestra and follows in the footsteps of Herbert Philharmonic, and National Taiwan Symphony with Blomstedt and Franz Welser-Möst each of who was upcoming returns to the Malaysia and Seoul Chief Conductor with the orchestra. philharmonics. Regularly invited by the New World Symphony in Soloists that he works with include Lang Lang, Miami to work with their nationally renowned Arcadi Volodos, Christian Tetzlaff, Anne-Sophie orchestral academy, Michael Francis will also Mutter, Vadim Gluzman, Nicola Benedetti, Baiba conduct the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland in Skride, Alisa Weilerstein, Daniel Müller-Schott, 2014. Having just conducted the London Symphony Miloš and Rufus Wainwright. Orchestra in a program of music by Dvorak and Panufnik, he will now debut with the NHK Michael Francis has recorded several albums, the Symphony Orchestra in Japan and the Royal most recent of which is the complete Rachmaninoff Philharmonic Orchestra. piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the London Symphony Orchestra for Decca Records in He has also debuted with the New York 2013. Philharmonic, the symphonies of Houston, Seattle, Milwaukee, Quebec, Vancouver and will in C R I T I C A L A C C L A I M “Michael Francis… [is] smart, charming with the audience, and his conducting emphasizes the long line and the big picture.” James Chute, San Diego Union Tribune, June 14, 2014 “The guest conductor’s attentiveness to detail and enthusiasm for cariances in articulation and dynamics were particularly fruitful in the third movement, ‘Mercury, The Winged Messenger.’ The violins and woodwinds exuded excitement.” “In ‘Uranus, The Magician’ Francis’ chemistry with the orchestra was most evident, especially in the way he drew a thick, march-like quality from the basses and trombones and an especially mischievous agility from the violins.” Daniel J. Kushner, Democrat & Chronicle, June 1, 2014 “From the opening strikes it was immediately clear that this music is Francis’ passion…” “This concert was a model of intelligent programming…” “This was possibly the best concert of the current Helsinki PO season, and further Helsinki performances of British music with Francis are eagerly awaited.” Derek Ho, Res Musica, March 20, 2014 “[Michael Francis’] easily authoritative readings of Dvorak’s Violin Concerto… and New world Symphony provided a frame of familiarity for seldom-heard works by the somewhat neglected Polish composer… Andrzej Panufnik, whose centenary year this is.” Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, February 16, 2014 “The main stage concert was unexpectedly good, with the British conductor Michael Francis playing a genial host and leading the orchestra in seriously good renditions of light classical ear candy. The first half was devoted to Viennese waltzes and operetta (Lehár, Strauss and Lortzing) while the second half was all Broadway (Gershwin, Weill, Loewe).” Michael Strickland, San Francisco Classical Voice, January 7, 2014 “Credit for the success of the dances on this occasion must go not only to the composer, but to the resplendent performance guest conductor Michael Francis drew from the Seattle Symphony. The set provides a tremendous work-out for every section of the orchestra, and the players, clearly rehearsed to a fare-thee-well, vividly realized the sheer glowing sensuousness and euphony of Tippett’s score.” Bernard Jacobson, Seen and Heard International, March 18, 2013 “The players gave an unusually expressive reading of the Elgar, with an especially rich string sound that Francis clearly elicited from the podium. At the performance’s conclusion, when the final crescendo brought in the full orchestra and the Watjen Concert Organ with bass stops that rival the rumble of a Boeing jet, and the energetic Francis was practically airborne off the podium, the total effect was staggering.” Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, March 16, 2013 “At times [Michael Francis] got us clapping along in such good spirits we might as well be at the Albert Hall Proms.” “[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.” Steven Kruger, Berkshire Review, July 26, 2012 “The Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra played ingeniously, as Francis courageously, brilliantly and analytically conducted.” Annette Eckerle, Stuttgarter Zeitung, January 21, 2012 “Guest conductor Michael Francis whipped the Oregon Symphony into a veritable whirlwind of sound during Bohuslav Martinů’s Fantaisies symphoniques…” “Francis displayed an incredible array of gestures and stickwork to inspire the orchestra to reach into the emotional complexity of Martinů's music and express it to the fullest. The wildest gyrations seemed to be spot on every single time, and the ending result was stunning.” James Bash, Oregon Music News, April 11, 2011 “Francis showed himself adept at managing shifts of color and rhythm, skills that were displayed in expansive form […] in a stirring performance of Sibelius’ Symphony No. 2 in D major. Characteristically a conductor of large gestures, Francis brought out the rhythmic subtleties in the second movement, and his encouragement of the brass (always a risky move) there and in the finale was rewarding.” Jay Harvey, IndyStar, April 2, 2011 “Shades of Toscanini!” “His sound and style put me immediately in mind of the late Rudolf Kempe, which is a compliment of the highest order. I will certainly seek his name out in future releases, regardless of repertoire.” “The unanimity of purpose between soloist and conductor is immediately apparent in the first movement of the Ravel, which grabs one’s attention and never lets it go. No detail is too small or insignificant for Parker and Francis to attend to, and the result was a performance of greater unity than I’ve ever heard before.” Lynn René Bayley, Fanfare Magazine, December 10, 2010 “…Francis conducted this work with precision and a general sense of how the overall energy flows from one episode to another…[He] endowed this music with the celebratory spirit that it deserved...” Stephen Smoliar, Examiner, San Francisco, November 12, 2010 “…[Francis’] graceful and often eloquent baton technique invested the minuet of the Haydn, in particular, with positively tigerish zest…” Bernard Jacobson, The Seattle Times, October 29, 2010 “…[Francis’] ‘La Mer’ had space to swirl and ebb like the sea it portrays, to grow in tempestuous intensity or be exquisitely calm. When needed, Francis’ beat was meticulous and clear, his meaning and the orchestra both transparent…” “Definitely a conductor to watch and to be invited back.” Zach Carstensen, The Gathering Note, Seattle, October 29, 2010 “…the RSO had Michael Francis on the podium….and Francis blew away any preconceptions of a sad, dusk-filled, dark mood. The Brit constantly strives for changes of light, and is able to give the orchestra thousands of opportunities for outstanding collective and soloistic bravour. He avoids harshness, and yet he is able to find the balance to create powerful accents, while bringing out some of the more unusual effects with exemplary character. By doing this, Francis could recreate the Nordic grey, the shimmer of the sun, and all the inherent hymnlike qualities. In the farewell of Prokofiev, he reached the highest possible poetic effect, with the ironic, comedic aspects cleverly worked out in delicate detail, combined with glorious exotic colour.” Monika Lanzendörfer, Mannheimer Morgen, March 30, 2010 “Francis managed the awkward rhythm and floating atonality of the one movement piece (Sibelius 7), in a way which was elastic, yet strong in sound...The velvet tone through which he celebrates the singing style was sensational. He avoided unnecessary virtuosic exaggerations, and his phrases were dreamlike and beautiful… the finale-like 2nd movement brought spontaneous, rapturous applause. This was all totally justified by the big sound: both rich and tender, with high precision and clear beating!” Stuttgarter Zeitung, March 29, 2010 “The RSO and Michael Francis, who replaced the ill fallen Previn, were more than equal partners.