Lead Festival Sponsor: Joann Clark | Dr. Ronald & Susan Heller
The Largest Mozart Festival in America
Music Director Michael Francis
June 18-28, 2025
This June, Experience the Magic of the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra
Maestro Michael Francis returns for his 11th season as Music Director
See top musicians from America’s top orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra and Boston Symphony, all together on one stage.
Concert Programming
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Opening Night: Newly Discovered Mozart & The Four Seasons
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Wed, June 18 @ The Conrad | 7:00PMMOZART: Serenade in C Major
VIVALDI: The Four Seasons
PIAZZOLLA: The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires -
Beethoven, Mozart, & Strauss
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Fri, June 20 @ The Conrad | 7:00PMMOZART: “Serenata notturna'“
STRAUSS: Duet Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon
MOZART: Sinfonia concertante in A Major
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 2Soloists: Boris Allakhverdyan (clarinet), Whitney Crockett (bassoon)
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Mozart Symphony 40 & Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto
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Sat, June 21 @ UCSD Epstein Family Amphitheater | 7:00PMELGAR: Introduction and Allegro
MOZART: Symphony No. 40
SAINT-SAËNS: Piano Concerto No. 2Soloist: Joyce Yang (piano)
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Brandenburgs & Haffner Symphony
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Tues, June 24 @ The Conrad | 7:00 PMSTRAVINSKY: Concerto in E-flat
BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2
BACH: Brandenburg Concerto No. 5
MOZART: “Haffner Symphony” -
Mozart, Mendelssohn & Klezmer Concerto
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Thurs, June 26 @ The Conrad | 7:00 PMMOZART: Overture to “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”
BENDIX-BALGLEY: A Klezmer Concerto
MOZART: Grande Fantaisie in F minor
MENDELSSOHN: Symphony No. 5Soloist: Noah Bendix-Balgley (violin)
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Closing Night: Beethoven’s Triple Concerto & Symphony 7
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Sat, June 28 @ UCSD Epstein Family Amphitheater | 7:00 PMMOZART: Overture to “Così fan tutte”
BEETHOVEN: Triple Concerto
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 7Soloists: Noah Bendix-Balgley (violin), Joyce Yang (piano), Robert DeMaine (cello)
Experience the Largest Gathering of Concertmasters & Principal Players in North America
See top musicians from North America’s leading orchestras, all together, on one stage.
Philadlephia Orchestra Concertmaster David Kim serves as Concertmaster of the All-Star Orchestra for the first half of the Festival.
Historical Rosters Have Included
Atlanta Symphony
Boston Symphony
Cleveland Orchestra
Los Angeles Philharmonic
National Symphony
New York Philharmonic
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
San Diego Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
Toronto Symphony
…And Dozens More.
Los Angeles Philharmonic Concertmaster Martin Chalifour serves as Concertmaster of the All-Star Orchestra for the second half of the Festival.
“Exhilarating in every way… Immaculate”
— Los Angeles Times
“Could be considered the greatest orchestra currently performing anywhere in the world.”
- San Diego Reader
“Triumphant”
- San Diego Union Tribune
“The roster reads as a who's who of America's orchestras”
- San Francisco Classical Voice
Music Director
Maestro Michael Francis
“Great is too small a word, because what Michael Francis gets his orchestra to do is nothing short of incredible.”
- Die Rheinpfalz (The Rhine Palatinate)
Michael Francis has developed an International reputation for sharing the power of music through his conducting and engaging speaking. Music Director of the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego since 2014, Francis and Mainly Mozart have recently completed an ambitious multi-year exploration of Mozart’s life. Appointed Music Director of the Florida Orchestra in the fall of 2014, he is now entering his eighth season with a contract extension through the 2024-25 season. His role in building transformative Community-Engagement initiatives has helped to grow the organization significantly. Entering his fourth season, Francis continues as Chief Conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Previously, he was Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra from 2012-16.
In 2023, Francis returned to the Cincinnati Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Philharmonia and the Minnesota Orchestra. Previous highlights include North American performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of St. Louis, San Diego, Houston, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Montreal, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. In Europe, he has conducted the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Dresden Philharmonic, MDR Leipzig, the Orquesta Sinfónica de RTVE Madrid and the Mariinsky Orchestra, amongst others. In his home country, he has worked with the London Symphony, Royal Philharmonic, Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland. In Asia, Maestro Francis has worked with the NHK Symphony, and the philharmonic orchestras of Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Seoul.
Michael Francis has collaborated with notable soloists such as Lang Lang, Arcadi Volodos, Itzhak Perlman, Christian Tetzlaff, Vadim Gluzman, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Javier Perianes, Jamie Barton, Truls Mørk, Håkan Hardenberger, Maximilian Hornung, Miloš, Benjamin Grosvenor, Emanuel Ax, Ian Bostridge, James Ehnes, Sting, Rufus Wainwright and many others.
Alongside his extensive educational work with young musicians, Francis is passionate about sharing the hidden truths in music with audiences worldwide through his acclaimed podium talks. His “Inside The Music” series and pre-concert talks in Florida and new “Inside the Season” series with Mainly Mozart have greatly helped develop new audiences. An exciting new series of ‘Keynote’ presentations (explaining the music, alongside performances) with Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz has just been released on Naxos.
Francis’ discography includes the Rachmaninov piano concertos with Valentina Lisitsa and the LSO, Rihm’s Lichtes Spiel with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the New York Philharmonic. A complete cycle of Mahler’s arrangements of Beethoven’s symphonies and overtures with Staatsphilharmonie will be released soon.
A former double-bass player in the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO), Michael Francis came to prominence as a conductor in January of 2007, stepping in for Valery Gergiev and John Adams with the LSO.
