articles / San Francisco Symphony
Elim Takes the Podium and a Radio Station Goes Ballistic
Cody Pickens
“My $$$’s on Elim Chan”
That’s what Brian Lauritzen said.
The Classical California staff were exchanging emails this morning in eager anticipation of the announcement that was to come later today at the City Hall Rotunda, the Big Reveal of the San Francisco Symphony’s next Music Director.
“I’m with Brian.”
That’s what I said.
And then it happened. First, the San Francisco Chronicle, then the official press release, and before you knew it, articles started appearing all over the place.
Welcoming Elim Chan: the next Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony
The programming staff stopped in their tracks and began unraveling our playlist, inserting Elim’s recordings, making sure hosts have everything we need. Messages circulate with a variety of celebratory woo-hoo’s and joyful emojis. For a lot of classical music fans, when asked where they first heard the news, they can proudly say, “ I heard it on Classical California.”
I first witnessed Elim’s artistry during the SF Symphony’s 2022-23 season in a program of works by Elizabeth Ogonek, Prokofiev, and Tchaikovsky, and then again later that season, conducting Britten and Holst. The first word her presence inspires is “incandescent.” She is a white-hot nucleus of energy up there, so focused and overwhelmingly expressive. She brings the music to life within her own body and tells the composer’s story with absolute clarity. And she’s just a little ferocious, which is delightful and dangerous in the best possible way. And she’s exactly what we’ve all been hoping for; a leader who understands that we are not in a bubble, that a conductor is "a servant to the score and the composer" (Elim’s words), one who has a commitment to bring younger people into the concert hall, and one who passionately believes that (her words again) "music is the thread in the needle that will knit our social fabric back together."
All of the staff at Classical California are so excited to welcome our new neighbor across the street at Davies Symphony Hall, and to quote Elim yet a 3rd time, “It is groundbreaking. It’s another ceiling broken.”
Yes, Elim, it is.
Welcome to CHAN Francisco!
Check out photos from the Classical California staff at the announcement below:
Announcing Elim Chan as the next Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony. Inside the Rotunda of San Francisco's City Hall.
Maggie Clennon Reberg and Rik Malone
Elim Chan and Maggie Clennon Reberg
