Hong Kong-born Elim Chan becomes first woman to lead San Francisco Symphony

Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan has been named music director designate of the San Francisco Symphony, capping months of intense industry speculation over her next permanent posting.

The orchestra announced on May 21 that Chan will officially begin her tenure in September 2027. She will serve an initial six-year term, becoming the first woman and 13th music director in the institution’s 115-year history.

The announcement marks a significant milestone for the conductor and places one of Hong Kong’s most famous classical music exports at the helm of a premier cultural institution in the United States.

“The San Francisco Symphony is one of the truly great orchestras of the world, and I am honoured to take the podium as its next Music Director,” Chan said in the press release. “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. […] I also look forward immensely to interacting with the San Francisco Symphony’s audiences and my new community as we begin this exciting journey together”.

Her “new community” in San Francisco will include one of the most culturally active and historic Chinese-American communities

in North America, and the orchestra already has a Hong Kong-born choral director, Jenny Wong.

San Francisco Symphony chief executive officer Matthew Spivey praised the appointment, stating, “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”.