FILE - Chief Conductor Elim Chan, center top, conducts the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra through a rehearsal at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in Antwerp, Belgium, July 1, 2020.
Elim Chan has been hired as the first female music director of the San Francisco Symphony. She will start with the 2027–28 season and has been given a six-year term. Chan, 39, was principal conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. She will also be an artistic partner of the Vienna Symphony for two seasons starting next fall. Esa-Pekka Salonen, whose term ends with the 2024-25 season, announced his departure after the orchestra's management cut spending.