Michael Francis has been the Principal Conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz since the 2019–2020 season. He is also in his fifth season as Music Director of the Florida Orchestra and has served as Musical and Artistic Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego since 2015.
He has been re-invited to the Cleveland Orchestra and Tampere and will conduct upcoming concerts with ensembles such as the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Northwest German Philharmonic, Württemberg Philharmonic Reutlingen, and the symphony orchestras in St. Louis, San Diego, and Indianapolis.
Earlier engagements brought him to major European orchestras, including the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, MDR Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra London, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, and Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra.
He has also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra multiple times, receiving mentorship from Valery Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis. In Asia, he has led the NHK Symphony Orchestra, Japan Philharmonic Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and Hong Kong Philharmonic. In North America, he has conducted the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, and symphony orchestras in Pittsburgh, Houston, Atlanta, and Cincinnati.
Michael Francis has collaborated with distinguished soloists including Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, Emanuel Ax, Itzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Håkan Hardenberger, Truls Mørk, Ian Bostridge, Sting, and Rufus Wainwright.
