Biography

Elim Chan conducts a wide range of symphonic works extending from the Classical period to the present day. She was appointed chief conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra at the beginning of the 2019–20 season, and highlights there this season include performances of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Brahms’s German Requiem, as well as a concert tour of Spain. Ms. Chan is one of the Musikverein’s 2022–23 Portrait Artists, collaborating with the ORF Radio Symphony, the Vienna Symphony, and German Chamber Orchestra Bremen at the Goldener Saal. Other highlights this season include the Pittsburgh Symphony, Toronto Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In Europe she makes her debut with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre de Paris, and also leads the Oslo Philharmonic, Finnish Radio Symphony, and the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester of Berlin. She makes her San Francisco Symphony debut with these performances.

A native of Hong Kong, Ms. Chan studied at Smith College and the University of Michigan. In 2014 she became the first female winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Competition, enabling her to spend the 2015–16 season as assistant conductor at the London Symphony, where she worked closely with Valery Gergiev. For the following season Ms. Chan joined the Dudamel Fellowship program of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also owes much to the support and encouragement of Bernard Haitink, whose masterclasses she attended in 2015.