It was kind of a news announcement, and kind of a coronation.
The San Francisco Symphony formally introduced its new music-director-to-be, the Hong Kong conductor Elim Chan, in a meet-and-greet at the City Hall Rotunda on Thursday, May 21. Gathered for the purpose were the orchestra’s musicians, staffers and board members, representatives of the city’s political and donor classes, and a variety of interested onlookers.
It wasn’t hard to detect the general atmosphere of eager anticipation surrounding Chan’s impending arrival. (She takes up her post with the 2027-28 season, but she’s scheduled to conduct the Symphony on June 5-6.)
Elim Chan, center, the San Francisco Symphony’s music director designate, celebrates with San Francisco Symphony leaders and musicians during an event announcing her as the orchestra’s next music director at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle)
“She’s the real deal,” said Kentucky-born composer Tyler Taylor, whose orchestral piece “Embers,” a winner of the Emerging Black Composers Project, is due for a world premiere Friday-Sunday, May 22-24, with Cristian Măcelaru conducting. “I heard her conduct Scriabin’s ‘Poem of Ecstasy’ with the Cleveland Orchestra recently and it was one of the top five performances of my life.”
Michèle Corash, the Symphony board member who chaired the search committee that chose Chan, said she’d been dazzled by her ever since Chan’s Symphony debut in 2023.
More Information
Elim Chan Conducts “La Mer”: San Francisco Symphony. 7:30 p.m. June 5-6. Tickets start at $39. Davies Symphony Hall, 201 Van Ness Ave., S.F. www.sfsymphony.org
“But of course we weren’t going to make a hire without doing our due diligence,” Corash added. “We considered many candidates, looking for someone who fit all the criteria we wanted – a superb musician, someone who could make a commitment to the Bay Area, someone with the personality to excite our audiences, and so on.
“So good luck with that job description – but we found her. And when we’d finished, we had no second choice.”
The enthusiasm surrounding Chan seemed contagious, even among those with no previous demonstrated interest in orchestral music. Mayor Daniel Lurie, introducing the event, told the crowd that he and his son, Sawyer, had recently become so engrossed in Chan’s story that they had driven to school with the classical station on – “something that has never happened before.”
Elim Chan, the San Francisco Symphony’s music director designate, walks down the stairs with Priscilla Geeslin, chair of the Board of Governors, and Eugene Izotov, principal oboe, during an event announcing Chan as the orchestra’s next music director at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, May 21, 2026. (Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle)
But as if to preempt any skeptics, the Symphony also staged the event with a full helping of pageantry. An enormous photo of Chan, set against the full blue backdrop of the bay, hung at the top of the stairs. When the moment came, Chan made a triumphal sweep down that staircase, trailed by CEO Matthew Spivey, Board Chair Priscilla B. Geeslin, principal oboist Eugene Izotov and principal timpanist Ed Stephan.
Pianist Simon Trpčeski, who is slated to perform with the orchestra this weekend rattled off an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto, like an orchestra playing off the winner of a beauty contest.
It didn’t take long, though, for Chan’s down-to-earth charisma to shine through the foofaraw.
She talked about her childhood exposure to classical music through the records her father, a graphic artist, played while working in his studio, and about the influence of Walt Disney’s “Fantasia,” which led her to imagine a conductor as a combination of Leopold Stokowski and Mickey Mouse.
Elim Chan, the San Francisco Symphony’s music director designate, speaks at an event announcing her as the orchestra’s next music director at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, May 21, 2026. Chan will become the first woman to hold the role in the orchestra’s 115-year history. (Jana Ašenbrennerová/For the S.F. Chronicle)
She outlined the breadth of her musical interests in relatable terms. “I’m old school,” Chan, 39, said. “I love the old, standard repertoire.
“And I love the friggin’ real beasts – the contemporary things, the wacky things. Because often they’re wacky for a reason, and if it’s convincing, then let’s do it!”
It was obvious, too, that reaching out to the entire Bay Area community is high on Chan’s list of priorities.
“I want to connect with you all,” she said, speaking to potential concertgoers throughout the area. “I want to make us cool.
“There are so many people who have still never experienced the San Francisco Symphony, and I want to take away any excuse. You are welcome, and you will find something here that suits you.”
Chan has clearly cultivated a wealth of good feeling between herself and the orchestral members.
“She brings a kind of humanity that I personally find exceptionally rare, not just in this profession but in life,” Izotov said. “She has a kind of warmth that just makes you want to do your best. It’s disarming!
“When symphony orchestras make music director decisions, they usually choose someone who’s one of three kinds. Sometimes they pick someone you’d call a great conductor. Sometimes they choose a famous conductor. And once in a while, if you’re really lucky, they choose the right conductor.”
Joshua Kosman is the Chronicle’s classical music critic emeritus.
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This article originally published at S.F. Symphony’s new music director has a bold goal: ‘I want to make us cool’.
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