Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s Messiah: Conductor Michael Francis on the Greatest Work of Art

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For the past 90 years, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Toronto Mendelssohn Choir have performed Handel’s Messiah together. Like the Nutcracker ballet, Messiah is an annual tradition that brings festive joy to every holiday season.

TSO’s 2025 version will be conducted by Michael Francis, music director of the Florida Orchestra and the Mainly Mozart Festival in San Diego, as well as chief conductor of Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz.

This is the British maestro’s fourth time working with the TSO. Most recently, in 2023, Francis conducted the TSO and TMC in Mozart’s Requiem. “I thought Jean-Sébastien Vallée trained the chorus so brilliantly well, and I found the Mendelssohn Choir to be just a pleasure to work with,” he says. “They were interested, extremely skilled, and very passionate in performance. And, of course, the Toronto Symphony is an exceptional orchestra.”

Francis feels that Handel’s monumental work is mainly about the human response to the well-known biblical story of Christ. Listeners experience the work differently at various stages of their lives. “It’s so powerful, because each time we come back to it, we see something different. And so, for the audience, I find this such a wonderful journey. Whether it be about the hope and the birth of the Messiah in the first part, or about pain and suffering and how we respond to that in part two, or the hope and redemptive power of the third part.”

Francis wants Messiah to be a communal experience. He encourages the audience to sing along in the “Hallelujah” chorus. This TSO version will include the often-omitted “If God before us,” sung by the soprano soloist, sparsely accompanied by solo violin, solo cello and organ. “It’s this tremendous moment of intimacy, reflection and peace after ‘The Trumpet Shall Sound’ and before the final ‘Amen’.” Francis also jokes that he will be slightly stricter about making the piece sound rather British in the pronunciation.

The conductor is especially excited about this year’s soloists, a mixture of well-known stars, and debutants. Returning are two veteran Canadian TSO and TMC collaborators, mezzo-soprano Susan Platts and bass-baritone Gerald Finley. Also making a welcome return is American soprano Lauren Snouffer, who last appeared in TSO’s 2023 Messiah. Making his TSO debut is Anthony León, an exciting young American-born, Cuban and Colombian tenor who was a winner of the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

For Francis, the Messiah is the greatest work in any artistic genre—be it painting, architecture or music. “It’s one of the rare moments where classical music rises above its own art form to be a cultural moment each year,” he says. “This amazing piece does so much good for charity and bringing people together. It allows us to reflect upon ourselves, because we return to it so often. It has stood the test of time.”