A new milestone has recently been set in the classical music world. The San Francisco Symphony has chosen Hong Kong-born conductor Elim Chan as its first female music director in 115 years. She becomes the first female music director in the history of America's "Big Seven" orchestras—New York, Boston, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. It is striking that an orchestra reeling from internal and external turmoil following the departure of former music director Esa-Pekka Salonen chose her with the backing of its musicians.
Chan's rise is part of a new landscape being drawn by female conductors across the world's music scene. The pioneer who first paved that path was Marin Alsop. Becoming head of the Baltimore Symphony in 2007, she shattered the glass ceiling as the first female music director of a major American orchestra. She is also the maestra who served as jury chair and personally conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra when Lim Yun-chan won the Van Cliburn Competition in 2022—a name familiar to Korean fans as well.
The march of maestras following her is equally dazzling. Germany's Joana Mallwitz became the first to conduct a full-length opera in the Salzburg Festival's 100-year history, and three years ago she took office as principal conductor of the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchestra, becoming the first female head of a major Berlin orchestra. America's Karina Canellakis is drawing attention shuttling between Europe and the United States as principal conductor of the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic.
Lithuania's Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla built an international reputation leading the City of Birmingham Symphony and is currently active as a Deutsche Grammophon artist. Finland's Susanna Mälkki is a seasoned conductor who served as principal conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic and led Ensemble Intercontemporain, a stronghold of contemporary music. Soon there will be a chance to see Mälkki on our podium in person. The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will present Schubert's Symphony No. 9, "The Great," under her baton at the Lotte Concert Hall on July 23–24. It is a stage too good to miss.
The path of Korean-born conductor Kim Eun-sun also deserves attention. She took office as the first female music director of the San Francisco Opera in 2021, cementing her standing on the world's top opera stages. With Chan's appointment, an unprecedented history has been written: the artistic heads of San Francisco's three institutions—symphony, opera, and ballet—are now all women.
This trend is not confined to the world stage alone. Women ascending to the podium on domestic stages happened long ago. Sung Shi-yeon made her name on the world stage by becoming the first woman to win the Sir Georg Solti International Conducting Competition in 2006, and she has continued steady activity on stages at home and abroad. It is a welcome path that started in Korea and reached out to the world. Yeo Ja-kyung, Kim Kyung-hee, and Kim Bong-mi, among others, are also broadening the foundation of Korean classical music by erasing prejudice in domestic orchestras, opera, and contemporary music.
Across both East and West, the podium was long a space of thoroughly male authority. The 20th-century conductor was closer to an "imperial dictator" commanding the orchestra in perfect unison, and a style of overwhelming musicians through physical charisma passed for a virtue. But the core competency demanded of the 21st-century conductor is communication and coordination, not command. It is no coincidence that Chan is praised as "a conductor who persuades through meticulous analysis and empathy."
The baton never had a gender. Only the opportunity to hold it was unequal. The gentle yet firm advance of the maestras is vivid proof that classical music is constantly evolving.
