THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2021-2022 5
Michael Francis has quickly established himself
as one of the leading international conductors of
today.
Appointed Music Director of the Florida Orchestra
in the fall of 2014, he is now entering his seventh
season with a contract extension through the 2024-
25 season. His role in building a wide variety of
transformative community engagement initiatives
has significantly grown the organization. Since 2014
as Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San
Diego, California with a contract renewal through
the summer of 2023, he continues his ambitious
multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. Now in his
third season, Francis continues as Chief Conductor
of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.
Previously, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic
Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
from 2012-16.
Previous and upcoming highlights include North
American performances with the Cleveland
Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the
Rochester Philharmonic, the symphony orchestras
of Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta,
Pittsburgh, Pacific, Montreal, Toronto and National
Arts Centre (Ottawa). In Europe, he has conducted
the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the
Dresden Philharmonic, the Helsinki Philharmonic,
the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid, the
Mariinsky Orchestra, the London Symphony, the
Royal Philharmonic, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC
National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Scottish
Symphony. In Asia, Maestro Francis has worked
with the NHK Symphony, the National Symphony
Orchestra of Taiwan as well as the philharmonic
orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and
Seoul.
Michael Francis has collaborated with notable
soloists such as Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, Itzhak
Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Gluzman, Anne-
Sophie Mutter, Nicola Benedetti, Javier Perianes,
Jamie Barton, Truls Mørk, Håkan Hardenberger,
Maximilian Hornung, Miloš, Benjamin Grosvenor,
Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, Sting,
Rufus Wainwright and many others.
Educational outreach with young musicians is of
utmost priority for Maestro Francis. He regularly
works with young musicians in Florida as part of the
orchestra’s community engagement initiative. He
has also enjoyed collaborations with the New World
Symphony, National Youth Orchestra of Scotland
and National Youth Orchestra of Canada.
Francis’ discography includes the Rachmaninov
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.
A former double-bass player in the London
Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Michael Francis came
to prominence as a conductor in January of 2007
stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams with
the LSO.
Francis makes his home in Tampa, FL with his wife
Cindy and six-year-old daughter Annabella.