Elim Chan, a Hong Kong-born conductor, has been appointed music director of the San Francisco Symphony, taking over one of nation’s top orchestra jobs in a field that has historically been dominated by men.
Chan, 39, will become the music director-designate in June, with a series of concerts at Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall, the orchestra said Thursday. She officially takes over the position in September 2027, the beginning of a six-year term.
Chan’s appointment comes during one of the more difficult chapters in the orchestra’s 115-year history, following the departure of its last music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen. Salonen announced in 2024 that he was stepping down at the end of his contract the next year, saying he did not “share the same goals for the future of the institution as the Board of Governors.” His decision came as the symphony cut spending — postponing commissions and canceling a European tour — to deal with a drop in audience revenue and contributions during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Matthew Spivey, the chief executive officer of the symphony, said he hoped that it was moving past these difficult few years. “We are very optimistic about where the organization is headed” under Chan, he said. “Her vision aligns so beautifully with who we are. She programs with genuine curiosity. And she is committed to expanding the orchestral canon.”
In an interview, Chan, a former chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, described her appointment as a milestone for female conductors.
“When it happened, I was like, ‘Oh my God — it’s time,’” she said. “It is groundbreaking. It’s another ceiling broken. I still have people in the audience say to me, ‘It is the first time I’ve seen a woman conducting.’”
Women have led American orchestras before. Marin Alsop served as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 2007 to 2021; JoAnn Falletta is the director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. But the San Francisco Symphony is widely considered one of the country’s top seven orchestras, reflecting stature, budgets and the size of the cities where they are based. The others are New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Los Angeles.
The San Francisco Symphony has, like many performing arts organizations, faced budgetary struggles and declining audiences in recent years. The situation, officials said, was particularly challenging in San Francisco because of a sharp rise in employees’ working from home outside the city rather in downtown offices (nearer Davies Hall), prompting the symphony to begin paring back its ambitions.
San Francisco has seen an economic turnaround recently, driven by the artificial intelligence boom and its influx of workers. Chan’s appointment is set to be celebrated later Thursday at a ceremony at City Hall with Daniel Lurie, the heir to the Levi Strauss & Co. fortune, who defeated the incumbent and fellow Democrat London Breed to become mayor in 2025.
Chan said she had taken the orchestra’s troubles into account when she was considering whether to take the job. She said she had had “very open, frank, deep conversations” with orchestra leaders and musicians about the organization’s recent difficult years.
“The first thing I said is, ‘Don’t sugarcoat anything, don’t try to impress me, just be real and talk,’” she said. “I think that is very important because I don’t want any sort of surprises, as what happened, and promises, empty promises.”
She said she was convinced that five years after the pandemic shutdown, this is now “a different time.” The orchestra has announced a tour of Southern California and has an ambitious calendar of programming, including a semi-staged version of Stravinsky’s “Firebird.”
“We all want this to be a success,” Chan said. “Those conversations made me feel I can do this with them.” She said she had not had a chance to discuss the job with Salonen. In a statement provided by the symphony, Salonen praised her appointment. “I look forward to great things in the years ahead,” he said.
Jessie Fellows, an assistant principal second violin player, was a member of the search committee that picked Chan. “She stood out to me and everyone from the committee,” she said.
Fellows said that orchestra members had “felt a little blindsided” by the changes the orchestra implemented two years ago, including the cancellation of the European tour. “But there is a lot of trust that is being rebuilt,” she said. “I think things are going in the right direction.”
Chan said she was considering a number of ways to bring back the audience, and particularly to develop a following among younger people, including shorter concerts that start earlier in the evening, allowing people to come straight from work.
Chan said she planned to get an apartment in San Francisco and would conduct there at least 10 weeks a year. The first time she visited the city was in 2016, when she was touring as a fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She made her debut with the San Francisco Symphony as a guest conductor in the 2022-23 season
She also serves as the artistic partner with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, and served as principal guest conductor with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra from 2018 to 2023.
Chan, described San Francisco as a “very European city,” and one that welcomed change.
“I’m doing one of the most old school jobs there is, I mean — conductor — and then to work with an orchestra to preserve the big masterpieces: Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart,” she said. “But at the same time, who I am is a very sort of modern idea.”
Adam Nagourney is the classical music and dance reporter for The Times.
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