Photo by Cody Pickens/provided San Francisco Symphony

Conductor Elim Chan will succeed Esa-Pekka Salonen as music director of the San Francisco Symphony, the 115-year-old orchestra announced today, May 21. She will begin her tenure in the 2027-28 season, for an initial six-year term.  Chan will join the San Francisco Symphony as Music Director Designate effective immediately, and will lead the SFS on June 5-6 in a program including Richard Wagner’s Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde, Berlioz’s Les Nuits d’été featuring mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as soloist, and Claude Debussy’s La Mer. Tickets are available now at sfsymphony.org/elimchan.

She initially made her San Francisco debut in the 2022-23 season — the same year that she made her debut with the Cincinnati Symphony. She made an impression here, too. Here is my review from her concert in Cincinnati.Read More »