Elim Chan Becomes First Female Music Director of San Francisco Symphony - The New York Times

Elim Chan has been named the symphony’s next music director. She joins a small field of female conductors at American orchestras, as San Francisco rebuilds after Esa-Pekka Salonen. By Adam Nagourney 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 Bo

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