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michael francis returns to oregon symphony!

 

Michael Francis - Photo: Chris Christodoulou

Our upcoming guest conductor Gunter Herbig has cancelled his engagement with the Oregon Symphony, and the orchestra’s loss quickly became its gain when young British conductor Michael Francis, who electrified both the orchestra and audiences last month, was engaged to replace Maestro Herbig. The concert, entitled “A Pair of Sixth Symphonies” will remain unchanged: Bohuslav Martinu’s Sixth Symphony, Prokofiev’s First Piano Concerto with pianist Natasha Paremski, and Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony “Pastoral”.

Natasha Paremski performing with the Santa Barbara Symphony

If you did not get a chance to hear our concerts with Francis last month, I highly encourage you – no, I DEMAND, that you get tickets for this series of concerts – April 10 – 11, 2011. Get those tickets here.

UPDATE: The Oregonian‘sDavid Stabler thinks something’s in the air – I don’t know if he’s right or wrong, but you can read his thoughts here.

6 replies on “michael francis returns to oregon symphony!”

Who would have thought pinch-hitting conductors could be so exciting? (as opposed to a train wreck). Now if we could find a fulltime gig in Portland! Hmmmm…….

I’m going to reply to my own comment after seeing the post update… I’m not an OregonLive.com troll so I won’t post there.

Playing “has worn thin”, “anti-Carlos” & “Carlos-fatigue” – dude does Stabler hate Carlos or what?!? Where’s Angry Symphony Guy when you need a smackdown.

Herbig pulls out because of personal reasons and all of a sudden we’re courting a noob (compared to Stabler’s referenced Gilbert, Schwartz, Robertson & the Dude) as the next OSO Music Director?

* Is Francis good? Yes – darn good.
* Would I like to see him more often in PDX? After his fun debut – emphatically yes. I’m so very bummed I only went on Saturday.
* Is he ready to be a MD? Uh. Um. Seems pretty risky – he hasn’t held a principal guest, assistant, associate or MD appointment yet.

Seems the simplest explanation is that if ya gotta go the bench for a pinch hitter you might as well pick the bat(on) who is on a hitting streak and won’t choke under pressure.

Keep diggin Davy – there might be a story there… might.

You and Curtis both make good points, but I’d say this (without hinting at anything, because there isn’t anything to be hinted at, frankly) – chemistry is at least half of the music director equation, and the first meeting we had with Michael was thick with the best sort of chemistry. This second meeting will give us a fortuitous chance to see if it was all just a mirage, or if there really is something there. At that point, any decisions to be made are purely speculation and way above my pay grade.

I guess every conductor has to land their first music director/associate/assistant/guest/resident gig somewhere right??? Francis is too good to be a free agent for long.

I agree with your comments, Dan. Stabler’s post is as he admits all speculation. He cites no support for his comments about Carlos. I like Francis a great deal but this just sounds like someone trying to create a story out of thin air.

I agree with your comments, Dan. Stabler’s post is as he admits all speculation. He cites no support for his comments about Carlos. I like Francis a great deal but this just sounds like someone trying to create a story out of thin air.

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