Where the magic happens, Elim Chan feels at home. Born in Hong Kong in 1986, the conductor has been an Artistic Partner of the Wiener Symphoniker since the 2026/27 season. For two seasons, she will work closely with the orchestra, presenting programmes of her own. The Wiener Symphoniker have a tradition of collaborating with young, emerging personalities. Lahav Shani (2017–2020) and Marie Jacquot (2023–2026), for example, both held the position of Principal Guest Conductor. Chan now takes on the role of Artistic Partner and is one of the most sought-after conductors of her generation. She is known for her precise shaping of sound, passionate expression and great curiosity about different musical worlds.

Her path to the international concert stage was an unusual one. Chan went to the United States with the aim of studying medicine, but there she discovered her passion for conducting and embarked on a new path at Smith College in Massachusetts and the University of Michigan. In 2014, she became the first woman to win the prestigious Donatella Flick Conducting Competition. She went on to serve as Music Director of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Chan already has a special relationship with the Wiener Symphoniker. She made her debut with the orchestra in November 2022 – a first encounter that left a lasting impression. “I fell in love with them right away,” Chan says of the Wiener Symphoniker. Since then, they have worked together on several further projects, including a 2024 concert at the Musikverein with pianist Seong-Jin Cho and a 2025 concert at the Bregenz Festival.

As Artistic Partner, the conductor now wants to deepen this close relationship. For her, putting together concert programmes is a form of musical storytelling: works enter into dialogue with one another, contrasts become audible and new perspectives emerge. This is why music of the 20th and 21st centuries is as much a part of her artistic voice as the symphonic repertoire. Prokofiev’s Cinderella Suite is paired with the fairy-tale worlds of Gubaidulina and Schnittke; another programme brings together works by Britten, Stravinsky, Debussy and Tchaikovsky through the shared idea of movement and dance. Chan will also programme and conduct the traditional Advent Concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna herself, juxtaposing Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker with works by Mozart and Saint-Saëns. To surprise audiences, challenge them and invite them to hear familiar works with fresh ears: this is one of the key attractions of her artistic work.