<\/p>\nAdd Preferred Source<\/p>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
\u201cBut of course we weren\u2019t going to make a hire without doing our due diligence,\u201d Corash added. \u201cWe considered many candidates, looking for someone who fit all the criteria we wanted \u2014 a superb musician, someone who could make a commitment to the Bay Area, someone with the personality to excite our audiences, and so on.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cSo good luck with that job description \u2014 but we found her. And when we\u2019d finished, we had no second choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s story that they had driven to school with the classical station on \u2014 \u201csomething that has never happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Elim]()
<\/p>\n
Elim Chan, the San Francisco Symphony\u2019s 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\u2019s next music director at San Francisco City Hall on Thursday, May 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
Jana A\u0161enbrennerov\u00e1\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Pianist Simon Trp\u010deski, who is slated to perform with the orchestra this weekend rattled off an excerpt from Tchaikovsky\u2019s First Piano Concerto, like an orchestra playing off the winner of a beauty contest.<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long, though, for Chan\u2019s down-to-earth charisma to shine through the foofaraw.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s \u201cFantasia,\u201d which led her to imagine a conductor as a combination of Leopold Stokowski and Mickey Mouse.<\/p>\n
![\"Elim]()
<\/p>\n
Elim Chan, the San Francisco Symphony\u2019s music director designate, speaks at an event announcing her as the orchestra\u2019s 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\u2019s 115-year history.<\/p>\n
Jana A\u0161enbrennerov\u00e1\/For the S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
She outlined the breadth of her musical interests in relatable terms. \u201cI\u2019m old school,\u201d Chan, 39, said. \u201cI love the old, standard repertoire.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I love the friggin\u2019 real beasts \u2014 the contemporary things, the wacky things. Because often they\u2019re wacky for a reason, and if it\u2019s convincing, then let\u2019s do it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
It was obvious, too, that reaching out to the entire Bay Area community is high on Chan\u2019s list of priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to connect with you all,\u201d she said, speaking to potential concertgoers throughout the area. \u201cI want to make us cool.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chan has clearly cultivated a wealth of good feeling between herself and the orchestral members.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe brings a kind of humanity that I personally find exceptionally rare, not just in this profession but in life,\u201d Izotov said. \u201cShe has a kind of warmth that just makes you want to do your best. It\u2019s disarming!<\/p>\n
Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen symphony orchestras make music director decisions, they usually choose someone who\u2019s one of three kinds. Sometimes they pick someone you\u2019d 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joshua Kosman is the Chronicle\u2019s classical music critic emeritus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Matthew Spivey, from left, San Francisco Symphony CEO; Priscilla Geeslin, chair of the Board of Governors; Elim Chan,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":328226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[329,7,331,330,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":["post-328225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-arts-and-entertainment","tag-california","tag-classical","tag-music","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}