Music Director Michael Francis Re-Ups with Florida Orchestra Through 2030

In Thursday’s (2/15) St. Pete Catalyst (FL), Bill DeYoung writes, “Michael Francis, music director and conductor for The Florida Orchestra since 2015, has signed a contract extension that will keep him behind the podium through 2030. The five-year extension is the third for Francis, the native of Great Britain who replaced Stefan Sanderling as music director. His guaranteed 15 years’ tenure in the chief artistic position will be second only to that of Irwin Hoffman, the orchestra’s first music director, who conducted from 1968 to 1988. Francis told the Catalyst that he was eager to re-up. ‘There’s always the risk that you can out-stay your welcome,’ he said. ‘But I feel here that we’re really making progress, and really moving forward in the right way.’… Under Francis’ watch, TFO has increased its ‘conversational’ approach to classical music, through his pre-concert talks and popular ‘Inside the Music’ events, in which he discusses the composer and the composer’s era and, with the assistance of orchestra musicians, demonstrates how certain passages were conceived and written. ‘The thing that I am most passionate about is communication combined with excellence,’ Francis said.”