Elim Chan will lead the San Francisco Symphony on June 5-6, presenting a program of “works deeply inspired by literature, love, and nature,” according to the Symphony’s website. San Francisco Opera and Symphony favorite mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke is the soloist in Hector Berlioz’s orchestral song cycle, Les Nuits d’été. The concerts also include Felix Mendelssohn’s Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, and Claude Debussy’s La Mer.
Chan discussed her experiences leading the SF Symphony orchestra with SF Classical Voice:
“From the first rehearsal, it was so clear that they collectively move as one [and] think as one, which is a wonderful quality for an orchestra. I love that they can lift it to another level in-concert. Sometimes, you’re like, ‘OK, we rehearsed it,’ and then it’s there and it’s safe. But it’s really nice that I could do something different in the concert and they would just run with me.”
Of Chan’s many career achievements, the latest is her appointment by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra as its Artistic Partner for the next two seasons. Among her projects in Vienna: Russian ballets and the orchestra’s famed Wiener Advent concert in the city's St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Chan said she fell in love with the Vienna orchestra immediately. “I love this contrast between the freshness and immediacy of the programmed music, the invited artists, and the city itself, which feels a bit like a time capsule.”
The Hong Kong-born conductor, 39, had the distinction of leading the Last Night of Proms at the Royal Albert Hall last year. She was assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 2015–2016, chief conductor of Norrland Opera in Umeå, Sweden from 2017–2018, and principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2018–2023.
Chan has previously conducted SF Symphony concerts twice in January 2023 (Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Elizabeth Ogonek), October 2023 (Benjamin Britten, Gustav Holst), and March 2025 (Tchaikovsky).
