Biography
Hal France is a sought after guest conductor of opera throughout the U.S.A. He has conducted nine productions for the Houston Grand Opera, eight productions for Central City Opera (Show Boat, La Fanciulla del West, L’Italiana in Algeri, Gloriana, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Saint of Bleecker Street, Candide, and Susannah), four productions for Opera Theater of St. Louis (including the world premiere of Beauty and the Beast), five productions for Kentucky Opera, three productions each for the New York City Opera (Oliver Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are, The Ballad of Baby Doe, and the world premiere of Ezra Laderman's Marilyn) and Orlando Opera (Macbeth, The Merry Widow and Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and two productions each for Cleveland Opera (Tosca and Rigoletto), Madison Opera (La Boheme and The Magic Flute), Calgary Opera (Tosca and The Ballad of Baby Doe), and Utah Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor and Romeo et Juliette).
Mr. France has served as Artistic Director of Opera Omaha, as Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic, as Resident and Associate Conductor for the Houston Grand Opera, Music Director of the Mobile Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, and as Music Director of Opera Omaha before assuming the position of Artistic Director. He was also Music Director of the Orlando Philharmonic. Early in his career, he served on the music staffs of the Glyndebourne Festival, Aspen Festival, and the Netherlands Opera. He began his professional career as assistant to John DeMain at the Houston Grand Opera.
Elsewhere, he has conducted productions for Seattle Opera and Florida Grand Opera (The Passion of Jonathan Wade), Minnesota Opera (Madama Butterfly), Opera Company of Philadelphia (The Rake’s Progress), Santa Fe Opera (A Dream Play - world premiere), Portland Opera (Tosca), Chautauqua Opera, Glimmerglass Opera (Iolanthe), Tulsa Opera (Don Pasquale), Opera Carolina, Chicago Opera Theater, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Festival of New Jersey, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Hawaii Opera Theater,, Arkansas Opera Theater, Mobile Opera, the Manhattan School of Music (Street Scene), and The Grapes of Wrath and Little Women at Northwestern University. In Europe, he has conducted Maria Stuarda with the Royal Opera in Stockholm.
Recent engagements include productions of Bluebeard’s Castle and Falstaff for Opera Omaha, Macbeth for Chautauqua Opera, Rigoletto, Carmina Burana and I Pagliacci and The Magic Flute for Hawaii Opera, Man of La Mancha for Utah Opera, Little Women for Northwestern University, Show Boat plus a double-bill of works by David Lang for Portland Opera, and The Pirates of Penzance for Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
On the concert stage, he has conducted the Richmond Symphony, Orlando Philharmonic, Nebraska Festival Orchestra and Jacksonville Symphony in subscription concerts, and the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra, Juilliard Symphony, and St. Louis Symphony in special galas