Chinese conductor Elim Chan will become the new music director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. The 39-year-old will assume the position in September 2027, the orchestra announced on Thursday. Chan will join the ensemble immediately as music director-designate and will conduct a program of works by Wagner, Berlioz, and Debussy in early June.

Elim Chan

The Hong Kong-born conductor succeeds Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen, who led the San Francisco Symphony from 2020 to 2025. She will be the 13th female music director and the first woman to hold the position in the orchestra's 115-year history. Her initial term is for six years.

"In Elim Chan we have found a musician with unusual gifts and a leader of equal substance - a rare combination that is behind her remarkable international rise," said Matthew Spivey, executive director of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

Chan made her debut with the ensemble in the 2022/23 season. She said she felt honored to become the next music director: "From my very first encounter with this orchestra, I have been truly impressed by the generosity of its musicians - embodied in their sound, their musical interpretation and their spirit," she explained.

Chan was chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from 2019 to 2024 and principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2018 to 2023. She has also been appointed artistic partner of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra for the next two seasons.

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