Cristian Măcelaru is music director of the Cincinnati Symphony and Orchestre National de France, artistic director of the George Enescu Festival and Competition, artistic director and principal conductor of Interlochen’s World Youth Symphony Orchestra, and music director and conductor of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music. He also serves as a distinguished visiting artist at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and as artistic partner of the WDR Symphony in Cologne, where he previously served as chief conductor.

Măcelaru has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Staatskapelle Berlin, Dresden Staatskapelle, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, London Philharmonic, and NDR Elbphilharmonie, among other orchestras. Across his titled roles, Măcelaru has consistently elevated artistic standards while expanding audience engagement. He led Orchestre National de France at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, before a global audience estimated at 1.5 billion people.

Măcelaru received a Grammy Award for his Decca Classics recording of Wynton Marsalis’s Violin Concerto with Nicola Benedetti and the Philadelphia Orchestra. His discography includes critically acclaimed recordings on Deutsche Grammophon, Warner Classics, Naïve Records, Linn Records, and other leading labels.

Born in Timișoara, Romania, Măcelaru moved to the United States at age 17 to attend Interlochen. He studied at the University of Miami and Rice University, and further refined his craft at the Tanglewood Music Center and Aspen Music Festival. He is a recipient of both the Solti Emerging Conductor Award and the Solti Conducting Award. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in October 2018.

JENNY WONG
A native of Hong Kong, Jenny Wong is Chorus Director of the San Francisco Symphony and associate artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale. Her conducting engagements have included the Los Angeles Philharmonic Green Umbrella Series, Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony and Pops, the Industry, Long Beach Opera, Phoenix Chorale, and Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. In 2021, Wong was one of nine national recipients of Opera America’s inaugural Opera Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors.

As Chorus Director, Wong has worked with SF Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen and Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas, as well as numerous guest conductors. She has also prepared choruses for the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Chicago Symphony, working with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Susanna Mälkki, Jonathan Cohen, and Osmo Vänskä, among many others. Wong led the SF Symphony Chorus for the Deutsche Grammophon recording of Kaija Sariaaho’s Adriana Mater, which won the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording, and helped prepare the Los Angeles Master Chorale for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s recording of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which won the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Together with Grant Gershon and the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Wong was also awarded the 2022 American Prize in Choral Performance in the Professional Division.

SAN FRANCISCO SYMPHONY CHORUS
The San Francisco Symphony Chorus was established in 1973 at the request of Seiji Ozawa, then the Symphony’s Music Director. The Chorus, numbering 32 professionals and more than 120 volunteer members, now performs more than 26 concerts each season. Louis Magor served as the Chorus’s director during its first decade. In 1982 Margaret Hillis assumed the ensemble’s leadership, and the following year Vance George was named Chorus Director, serving through 2005–06. Ragnar Bohlin concluded his tenure as Chorus Director in 2021, a post he had held since 2007. Jenny Wong was named Chorus Director in September 2023.

The Chorus can be heard on many acclaimed San Francisco Symphony recordings and has received Grammy Awards for Best Performance of a Choral Work (for Orff’ s Carmina burana, Brahms’s German Requiem, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8) and Best Classical Album (for a Stravinsky collection and for Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 and Symphony No. 8).