Elim Chan

One of the most sought-after of the young conductors and already widely admired for her unique combination of “drama and tenderness, power and delicacy” (Hereford Times), Elim Chan became the first female winner of Donatella Flick Conducting Competition and has been appointed Chief Conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra from the season 2019/20. In addition, she also holds the position as Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra since 2018/19.

The 2021/22 season starts off with an appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival followed by debuts with the Sinfonieorchester Basel and Boston and St. Louis Symphony orchestras, European Union Youth Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien, Orchestre National de Lyon and Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. Further to that, Elim Chan will return to orchestras with whom she is closely connected, amongst them Philharmonia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gürzenich Orchester Cologne.

Recent highlights include engagements with Orchestre National de Lille, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Gothenburg Symphony and Netherlands Philharmonic orchestras, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic as well as City of Birmingham Symphony orchestra.

Elim Chan became Assistant Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 2015/16 and was appointed to the Dudamel Fellowship programme with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the following season. Previously she led the Orchestre de la Francophonie as part of the NAC Summer Music Institute in 2012 where she worked with Pinchas Zukerman and participated in the Musical Olympus Festival in St. Petersburg as well as in workshops with the Cabrillo Festival and Baltimore Symphony orchestras (with Marin Alsop, Gerard Schwarz and Gustav Meier). She also took part in masterclasses with Bernard Haitink in Lucerne in spring 2015.

Elim Chan holds degrees from Smith College and the University of Michigan. Whilst there, she served as Music Director of the University of Michigan Campus Symphony Orchestra and the Michigan Pops Orchestra. She also received the Bruno Walter Conducting Scholarship in 2013.