The Florida Orchestra has named Michael Francis its new Music Director. He's 37-years-old, English and a double bass player.
He met his wife of one year in London at a charity event. She just happens to be from the Tampa Bay area.
Francis said with this appointment, "the stars aligned."
And his family will be moving here as he takes the helm of the Florida Orchestra.
Florida Orchestra President and CEO Michael Pastreich said, "The magic thing about Michael is that from the second he was on the podium, I sensed very quickly that he wanted to be our music director and the orchestra wanted him to be our music director."
"Chemistry" is what Francis calls it. A musician himself, he was a double bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra for several years.
"It always struck me that the finest conductors were facilitators, sort of people who would enable others to play well. They would bring us together without robbing us of our individual creativity."
He said Florida is "crying out for a truly international world class orchestra" and this is the vision he has for the organization. He said "everything is bubbling up, waiting for this to happen and I think this orchestra can really, really explode and develop into something truly wonderful."
Francis will be the Florida Orchestra's Music Director Designate in the fall.
