Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan has been named the next Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, becoming the orchestra’s 13th music director when she officially takes up the post in September 2027.
She is the first woman to be appointed as director of one of the so-called “Big 7” American symphony orchestras, following in the footsteps of Marin Alsop, Xian Zhang, Nathalie Stutzmann and JoAnn Faletta, who each have led the Baltimore Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Atlanta Symphony and Buffalo Philharmonic. They were recently joined by Anna Handler, who will shortly become Conductor-in-Residence at the LA Philharmonic.
Elim Chan, who joins immediately as Music Director Designate, will serve an initial six-year term in San Francisco and lead at least ten weeks of programming each season, alongside tours, special projects and the orchestra’s Opening Gala. Her first appearances in the new role will be on 5th and 6th June.
The Music Director post has been vacant since Esa-Pekka Salonen stepped down at the end of his contract in 2025, citing creative and financial differences with the orchestra's Board of Governors over their vision for the institution. His high-profile departure followed budget cuts, the postponement of commissions and the cancellation of a planned European tour.
Announcing the appointment, San Francisco Symphony CEO Matthew Spivey praised Chan’s conviction on the podium and her commitment to contemporary music, describing her as “a musician of unusual gifts and a leader of equal substance”.
Chan said she was honoured to become the orchestra’s next music director, adding that she had been struck by the generosity of its musicians since her first meeting with the orchestra in 2022. “The Bay Area has long been the place where the future gets invented. This orchestra carries that same restless, forward-looking energy in everything it does,” she added.
The appointment continues Chan’s rapid international rise. In 2014, she became the first female winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and went on to forge her career on the biggest podiums. She has led both the First and Last Nights of the BBC Proms, one of only a small group to have done so. She recently became Artistic Partner of the Vienna Symphony and previously served as Principal Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.
