Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan, 39, will be the 13th music director in the San Francisco Symphony’s 115-year history when she begins an initial six-year term in the 2027–28 season. The position has been open since Esa-Pekka Salonen’s departure last year.
Chan joins the orchestra as Music Director Designate effective immediately. She will conduct SFS concerts on June 5 and 6, with a reception after the Friday performance — all ticketholders are invited to the post-concert welcome celebration.
The program includes Wagner’s “Prelude and Liebestod” from Tristan und Isolde, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été, and Debussy’s La Mer.
On Oct. 29-31, she will return for a program pairing choral works of Brahms and Arvo Pärt with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and SF Symphony’s premiere of John Adams’s Doctor Atomic Symphony.
Chan is the first woman to be appointed music director of SF Symphony.
Women now occupy the top artistic positions at San Francisco’s three major music organizations: Chan as SF Symphony’s Music Director; Eun Sun Kim as SF Opera’s Music Director, and Tamara Rojo as SF Ballet’s Artistic Director. With the exception of Seiji Ozawa, only white men held these positions in the past.
“The San Francisco Symphony is one of the truly great orchestras of the world, and I am honored to take the podium as its next music director,” Chan said in response to the appointment.
“From my very first encounter with this orchestra, I have been genuinely struck by the generosity of its musicians — exemplified in their sound, their music-making, and in their spirit.
“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. Stepping into the rich legacy of my distinguished predecessors, it is this exact spirit that I want to nurture and explore every single night, together with these incredible musicians.”
According to Chan’s contract, she will lead the orchestra in a minimum of 10 weeks of programming, including the Opening Gala and the All San Francisco concert. From 2028 onward, she will also spend an additional three weeks devoted to special projects such as touring and SoundBox.
Her salary will not be made public until the IRS Form 990 makes it available more than two years in the future. Annual compensation for her predecessor, Salonen, was approximately $2 million.
As a teenager in Hong Kong, Chan sang in choirs and played both cello and piano while attending Li Po Chun United World College. Chan then moved to the U.S. to further her music education. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Smith College in 2009 and earned both a master's degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in conducting from the University of Michigan in 2015.
In 2015, she also became the first woman to win the Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition, which introduces young conductors to the professional stage. She received the award and a warm greeting — “You know you’re amazing, right?” — from King Charles III, then still the Prince of Wales, the originator and sponsor of the competition.
Chan is married to Dutch percussionist Dominique Vleeshouwers. Their home is in Amsterdam.
When asked how she establishes authority over a large orchestra, Chan somewhat mischievously explained:
“Usually the expectation [of me] is so low — I am not a tall lady, I am Asian, and I am a woman. I usually play with the low expectation, ‘you cannot go lower.’ Sometimes people giggle or laugh at first, but once I start, those noises stop.
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 are Russian ballets and the orchestra’s famed Wiener Advent concert in the city's St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Chan had the rare distinction of leading the First Night of the BBC Proms in 2024 and returned in 2025 to conduct the Last Night of the Proms.
Chan made her SFS debut during the 2022–2023 season by conducting the world premiere of Elizabeth Ogonek’s Moondog. Also on that program were works by Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky. In October, 2023, she led SFS in works by Benjamin Britten and Gustav Holst. Her most recent appearance was in March of last year.
“In Elim Chan, we have found a musician of unusual gifts and a leader of equal substance — a rare combination — and the one behind her remarkable international rise,” said SF Symphony CEO Matthew Spivey.
“From Elim Chan’s first rehearsal with the San Francisco Symphony, it was clear she is an extraordinary musician and an original interpreter with a distinct artistic voice,” said SFS Assistant Principal Second Violin Jessie Fellows. “She brings passion, imagination, and a deeply communicative approach that I find incredibly inspiring. Her vision and artistry feel especially aligned with San Francisco’s spirit of innovation, curiosity, and possibility.”
SFS Principal Oboe Eugene Izotov said, “Elim brings a vibrant and exciting presence to the podium. Her artistic vision resonates with the spirit of San Francisco, blending tradition, curiosity, and humanity. I look forward to our new journey together.”
Chan will make her Berlin Philharmonic debut this season, alongside first appearances with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, and Dallas Symphony Orchestra.
In 2027, she will conduct her first staged opera with John Adams’s Doctor Atomic at Zurich Opera House in a new production. In 2028, she will make her Vienna Philharmonic debut.
This is the list of SF Symphony’s music directors before Chan:
Henry Hadley (1911–1915)
Alfred Hertz (1915–1930)
Basil Cameron (1930–1932)
Issay Dobrowen (1931–1934)
Pierre Monteux (1935–1952)
Enrique Jordá (1954–1963)
Josef Krips (1963–1970)
Seiji Ozawa (1970–1977)
Edo de Waart (1977–1985)
Herbert Blomstedt (1985–1995)
Michael Tilson Thomas (1995–2020)
Esa-Pekka Salonen (2020–2025)
