THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2019-2020 11
MICHAEL FRANCIS
Music Director
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 fifth season with a contract extension
through the 2023/24 season. His role in building
a wide variety of transformative community
engagement initiatives has significantly grown the
organization. With the start of the 2019/20 season,
Francis begins his tenure as chief conductor of
Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.
He has been music director of the Mainly Mozart
Festival in San Diego, California, since 2014, with a
contract renewal through the summer of 2023, and
he continues his ambitious multi-year exploration
of Mozart’s life. He was chief conductor and artistic
advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
from 2012 to 2016.
This season, upcoming engagements include
a debut with the Detroit Symphony for their
season opening, as well as return performances
with the Indianapolis Symphony, Minnesota
Orchestra, Tampere Philharmonic, Philharmonia,
MDR Leipzig, RSB Berlin and Rundfunk-
Sinfonieorchester Saarbrücken.
Previous and upcoming highlights include North
American performances with the Cleveland
Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Rochester
Philharmonic, and 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 Bavarian Radio Symphony
Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, Helsinki
Philharmonic, Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid,
Mariinsky Orchestra, London Symphony, Royal
Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National
Orchestra of Wales and BBC Scottish Symphony. In
Asia, Francis has worked with the NHK Symphony,
National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan and the
philharmonic orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan,
Malaysia and Seoul.
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 Francis. He returns to the
National Youth Orchestra of Canada during the
summer of 2020, having conducted their Spanish
tour in 2019. He has also frequently conducted
Miami’s New World Symphony and the National
Youth Orchestra of Scotland. Francis works on a
regular basis with young musicians in Florida as
part of the orchestra’s community engagement
initiative.
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.
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.