Conductor Michael Francis has held prominent positions in Sweden, Germany, and the U.S., where he lives. His contract with The Florida Orchestra has been extended through the 2024 season.

Francis was born in 1976 and grew up in the Sussex region on England's south coast. His mother was Irish, and his father, through whom he traces his family background to the pirate Henry Morgan, was Welsh. Francis grew up poor in a government housing project but earned a music school scholarship. He began his career as a double bassist, playing in the European Union Youth Orchestra and finding himself fascinated by the U.S. on tours there. Francis graduated from the Cardiff University School of Music in 1997 and landed a double bass slot with the London Symphony Orchestra, but then switched to conducting. He broke through in 2007 with not one but two well-received last-minute substitutions, stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams. He made his recording debut in 2010 with the London Symphony Orchestra, backing pianist Ian Parker on an album of works by Gershwin, Ravel, and Stravinsky.

In 2012, Francis became the chief conductor and artistic adviser with the Nörrkoping Symphony in Sweden, remaining in that post through 2016. He also made guest appearances with a variety of orchestras in the U.S. and Europe, including the New York Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic, and Mariinsky Orchestra. In 2015, Francis became the music director of The Florida Orchestra, and he took up residence in Tampa with his wife, Cindy, and their daughter. Michael became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2019, flying in twice from Germany for required fingerprinting sessions, and after that sang The Star-Spangled Banner with The Florida Orchestra for the first time. That year, he began a stint as the chief conductor of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany; his contracts in both Florida and Ludwigshafen run through 2024. He has made several more recordings, backing pianist Valentina Lisitsa with the London Symphony on several Rachmaninov albums on the Decca label. In 2021, he teamed with the BBC Philharmonic and cellist Jakob Kullberg on an album of cello concertos by Per Nørgård and Kaija Saariaho. ~ James Manheim, Rovi