Alun Francis (born 29 September 1943) is a Welsh conductor.

Career

Francis was the principal conductor of the

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom ...

from 1966 for ten years. In 1978 he conducted the premiere of Donizetti's opera ''

Gabriella di Vergy ''Gabriella di Vergy'' is an opera seria in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti written in 1826 and revised in 1838, from a libretto by Andrea Leone Tottola, which was based on the tragedy ''Gabrielle de Vergy'' (1777) by Dormont De Belloy. Prior to ...

'' in the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. From 1979 to 1985 he was

Music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, then he was artistic counselor of the ensembles Opera Forum in

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

. From 1987 to 1990 he was

Generalmusikdirektor A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

of the

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie (North West German Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. Founded in 1950, the orchestra is one of the ''Landesorchester'' of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, along with the ''Philhar ...

. Afterwards he conducted the Haydn-Orchester in

Bolzano Bolzano ( ; ; or ) is the capital city of South Tyrol (officially the province of Bolzano), Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The ...

, the Berliner Symphoniker and the

Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi is an Italy, Italian symphony orchestra founded in 1993 thanks to the visionary foresight of Vladimir Delman, Marcello Abbado, and Luigi Corbani. The orchestra is based in Milan, at the Auditorium di Mi ...

. From 2003 to 2008 he was principal conductor of the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha. He has been a regular guest conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. As of 2010, he was principal conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM in Mexico City.

Discography

Francis recorded works of

Francis Poulenc Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc (; 7 January 189930 January 1963) was a French composer and pianist. His compositions include mélodie, songs, solo piano works, chamber music, choral pieces, operas, ballets, and orchestral concert music. Among th ...

, symphonies and symphonic works of Otto Klemperer with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, and symphonies of Allan Pettersson with different orchestras, among others. In 1980 he recorded Offenbach's

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

'' Robinson Crusoé'' with the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...

. In 2000 he was awarded the first prize of the Cannes Classical Award in the category CD premiere for his recording of the complete symphonies of

Darius Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His composition ...

with the Sinfonieorchester Basel. He conducted a recording of Carl Reinecke's four piano concertos with pianist Klaus Hellwig and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie. He is the only conductor to have recorded – with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra for the CPO label – all five symphonies by the English composer

Humphrey Searle Humphrey Searle (26 August 1915 – 12 May 1982) was an English composer and writer on music. His music combines aspects of late Romanticism and modernist serialism, particularly reminiscent of his primary influences, Franz Liszt, Arnold Sch ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Francis, Alun 1943 births 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century Welsh male musicians 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century Welsh male musicians Living people British male conductors (music) Place of birth missing (living people) Welsh conductors (music)