THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2018-2019 11
MICHAEL FRANCIS
Music Director
Conductor Michael Francis has quickly established
himself internationally. Known for maintaining a
diverse repertoire while paying particular homage
to the composers of his native Britain, Francis enjoys
great reception throughout North America, Europe
and Asia.
Highlights of Francis’ 2018/19 season include
return appearances with the MDR Leipzig Radio
Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic
Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra,
Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and debuts with
the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra as well as the
Phoenix and San Diego symphonies. His return to the
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz is an
extensive eight-week creative partnership.
Other guest and return appearances in North
America have included The Cleveland Orchestra and
the symphonies of New York, Cincinnati, Houston,
Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Toronto and Ottawa.
His European engagements have included Bavarian
Radio, Berlin Radio, Dresden Philharmonic, Helsinki
Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid
and Mariinsky Orchestra. In the United Kingdom,
he has worked with the London Symphony, Royal
Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National
Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony.
In Asia, Francis has conducted the NHK Symphony,
National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan as well
as the Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Seoul
philharmonics.
Working with young musicians has always been
a priority for Francis. He will return to the National
Youth Orchestra of Canada during the summer of
2019. Francis has made frequent visits to Miami’s
New World Symphony and recently returned to the
National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. He also works
regularly with young musicians in Florida as part
of The Florida Orchestra’s extensive community
engagement.
After several years as a tenured double-bass player
in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), he came
to prominence as a conductor in January 2007,
replacing an indisposed Valery Gergiev for concerts
with the LSO during the BBC’s Gubaidulina festival
at the Barbican Centre. Just one month later, Francis
was asked, this time with only two hours’ notice, to
replace the composer/conductor John Adams in a
performance of his own works with the LSO at the
Philharmonie Luxembourg. Soon after in January
2009, he replaced André Previn leading a German
tour of the Stuttgart Radio Symphony with Anne-
Sophie Mutter.
Soloists that he works with include Lang Lang,
Arcadi Volodos, Itzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff,
Vadim Gluzman, Nicola Benedetti, Javier Perianes,
Jamie Barton, Truls Mørk, Håkan Hardenberger,
Daniel Müller-Schott, Miloš, Benjamin Grosvenor,
Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, and Rufus
Wainwright.
Francis’ discography includes the Rachmaninoff
piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the
London Symphony Orchestra, Wolfgang Rihm’s
Lichtes Spiel with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the New
York Philharmonic, and the Ravel and Gershwin
piano concertos with Ian Parker.
He is in his fourth year as music director of The Florida
Orchestra, where he has led an extensive community
engagement initiative that includes statewide
residencies, programmatic collaborations with
local museums, and a hugely expanded lecture
series. He is also music director of the Mainly Mozart
Festival in San Diego, where he has launched an
ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. He
was previously chief conductor and artistic advisor
of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2012
to 2016.