Michael Francis
Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Conductors
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Manager: R. Douglas Sheldon
Additional Management: Denise A. Pineau
Management Territory: Worldwide
"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. It was a performance that made you realize yet again that there is nothing like the live sound of a great orchestra in a great hall." —Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times - March 2013
Davies Hall, The San Francisco Symphony; Program: My Classic Americana "At times [Michael Francis] got us clapping along in such good spirits, we might as well be at the Albert Hall Proms. The young Englishman has now conducted several summer seasons in San Francisco and is a great hit with our audience, bringing just the right touch of knowing wit, uncomplicated musicality, good spirits and schoolboy snark to the proceedings." "[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, an International Journal for the Arts - July 2012
"Guest conductor Michael Francis whipped the Oregon Symphony into a veritable whirlwind of sound during Bohuslav Martinù’s Fantaisies symphoniques…” “Francis displayed an incredible array of gestures and stickwork to inspire the orchestra to reach into the emotional complexity of Martinù'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 2011
About
Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Michael Francis has catapulted far beyond his impressive last minute ‘step-in’ engagements with the London Symphony where he replaced Valery Gergiev and later John Adams in 2007.
Recently appointed Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor to Sweden’s Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Michael Francis follows in the footsteps of Herbert Blomstedt and Franz Welser-Möst each of whom were Chief Conductor with the orchestra in the early stages of their careers.
His successful 2010 ‘step-in’ debut with the San Francisco Symphony has led to his conducting . . . that orchestra’s New Year’s Concerts in 2011 and 2012 and to conduct its 2011 and 2012 summer seasons of 9 classical concerts each.
Other acclaimed debut concerts included the New York Philharmonic, Houston, Cincinnati, Seattle, Indianapolis, and Oregon Symphonies as well as with Mariinsky Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Münchner Symphoniker.
Most recent and upcoming debuts include those with the Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Bournemouth, Toronto, Milwaukee, New World, Ottawa and Quebec Symphonies, as well as the Dresden, Lausanne, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan Philharmonics, while making return visits to Stuttgart, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Oregon, Seattle and BBC Wales.
Musical collaborations with Anne-Sophie Mutter began in January 2009 when Francis made ‘step-in’ performances for André Previn in four German cities conducting Mozart and Gubaidulina concerti plus major works of Hindemith. He also appeared with Ms. Mutter in the 2010 world premiere of Wolfgang Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel with the New York Philharmonic, and on a 2012 European tour conducting Sebastian Currier’s Violin Concerto Time Machine with the RSO Stuttgart. In May 2012 they collaborated again on a tour of seven European cities with an orchestra of musicians from the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics.
Mr. Francis returned to Asia with Ms. Mutter for November 2012 for concerts in Taiwan and Hong Kong having earlier conducted a series of concerts for Ms. Mutter in 2010 with the National Taipei Symphony Orchestra and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra. While on this tour, Mr. Francis again ‘stepped-in’ to conduct the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra to great triumph.
Michael Francis “The Beginning”
Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January 2007 when he was asked, with 12 hours’ notice, to replace an indisposed Valery Gergiev for the rehearsals and performance of Gubaidulina's Märchen-Poem and Pro et Contra with the London Symphony Orchestra during the BBC Gubaidulina festival at the Barbican Centre. Only one month later, Michael 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: the program was Slonimsky’s Earbox, The Dharma at Big Sur (an electric violin concerto with Leila Josefowicz) and Naïve and Sentimental Music.
The LSO first became aware of Michael’s conducting ability when he took a rehearsal, with no notice, of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony on a tour of Lithuania in 2006. He has conducted the LSO in the recording studio, where he has recorded piano concerti with the young Canadian pianist, Ian Parker, and has collaborated with Valentina Lisitsa and the London Symphony Orchestra on the Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concertos Nos. 1 through 4 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, which releases onto DECCA fall 2012. His recording of Rachmaninoff/Warenberg Piano Concerto No. 5 and Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2 (Julius-Jeongwon Kim) is released on DG.
Following a highly successful master class with Maestro Gergiev and the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra during the Gergiev Festival in Rotterdam 2007, Michael was invited to conduct a series of concerts with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra in June and October 2008. He made his Concertgebouw debut conducting the Netherlands Philharmonic in September 2009. Michael was also subsequently asked by the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra to assist Valery Gergiev for his entire Brahms Cycle and 2008 Festival where he conducted many rehearsals and worked with artists such as Nelson Friere, Janine Jansen, Ekaterina Gubanova, Mariusz Kwiecien, Solveig Kringelborn and the Swedish Radio Choir.
In November 2008 Michael made his debut with the Orchestre Philharmonie du Luxembourg in a concert with Roberto Alagna, and in July 2009 Michael made his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra with a program including Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto and Ricardo Morales.
Michael Francis also worked with the Swedish Radio Symphony at the invitation of Daniel Harding and with the New World Symphony at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas.
In late May of 2009 Michael conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra in St. Petersburg for a celebration honoring the outstanding international prize winners of the Musical Olympus Festival, with a program featuring Dvořák, Othello Overture, the Elgar Cello Concerto and numerous opera arias.
Michael Francis also worked with the Swedish Radio Symphony at the invitation of Daniel Harding and with the New World Symphony at the invitation of Michael Tilson Thomas.
In late May of 2009 Michael conducted the Mariinsky Orchestra in St. Petersburg for a celebration honoring the outstanding international prize winners of the Musical Olympus Festival, with a program featuring Dvořák, Othello Overture, the Elgar Cello Concerto and numerous opera arias.
