Alun Francis is a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 conductor.

Professional career

Francis was the principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra

Ulster Orchestra

The Ulster Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Belfast, the only full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. The orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall...

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

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 by Dormont De Belloy...

in the Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

.

From 1979 to 1985 he was Music director

Music director

A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...

 of the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in Seattle, then he was artistic counselor of the ensembles Opera Forum in Enschede

Enschede

Enschede , also known as Eanske in the local dialect of Twents, is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region...

.

From 1987 to 1990 he was Generalmusikdirektor of the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie

The Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie is a German symphony orchestra based in Herford. It was founded in 1950 and, along with Philharmonie Südwestfalen and Landesjugendorchester NRW, is one of the 'official' orchestras of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia...

. Afterwards he conducted the Haydn-Orchester in Bozen

Bozen

Bozen may refer to:*Bolzano, a bi-lingual northern Italian provincial capital city of which Bozen is the official German name*Bözen, a Swiss municipality*Bożeń, a village in Poland*Bozen Green, a village in Hertfordshire, England...

, the Berliner Symphoniker

Berliner Symphoniker

Berliner Symphoniker ia a Symphony orchestra in Berlin, Germany.The orchestra began its performing activity on 1 September 1967 as Symphonisches Orchester Berlin. In 1990 it was renamed Berliner Symphoniker...

 and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi

Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi

The Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi is an Italian orchestra based in Milan. The orchestra refers to itself as La Verdi colloquially. The orchestra's primary residence is the Auditorium di Milano Fondazione Cariplo.-History:Vladimir Delman founded the orchestra in 1993 as an...

. 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 is principal conductor of the Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM

OFUNAM

The Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM was founded in 1936 and is the oldest symphonic group in Mexico City. It is based at Sala Nezahuacóyotl at the University City of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, in Mexico City...

 in Mexico City.

Discography

Francis recorded works of Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...

, symphonies and symphonic works of Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.-Biography:Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany...

 with the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, and symphonies of Allan Pettersson

Allan Pettersson

Gustav Allan Pettersson was a Swedish composer. Today he is considered one of the most important Swedish composers of the 20th century...

 with different orchestras, among others. In 1980 he recorded Offenbach's operetta

Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...

 Robinson Crusoé

Robinson Crusoé

Robinson Crusoé is an opéra comique, or operetta, by Jacques Offenbach.The French libretto was written by Eugène Cormon and Hector-Jonathan Crémieux, which was loosely adapted from the novel Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, though the work owes more to British pantomime than to the book...

with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

. 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

Darius Milhaud was a French composer 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 compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...

 with the Sinfonieorchester Basel

Sinfonieorchester Basel

The Sinfonieorchester Basel is a Swiss orchestra based in Basel. The orchestra performs symphony concerts at the Musiksaal, Basel. The orchestra also serves as the opera orchestra and ballet orchestra for the Theater Basel...

. He conducted a recording of Carl Reinecke

Carl Reinecke

Carl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...

's four piano concertos with pianist Klaus Hellwig and the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie.

External links

• Alun Francis website
• Entries for Alun Francis on WorldCat
  WorldCat
  WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of 72,000 libraries in 170 countries and territories which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative...