News · Opinion
Daniel Harding and Elim Chan?
Two key US orchestra announcements in the past seven days have raised an eyebrow. I can’t comment on their conducting chops, so to speak. No one authoritatively, regardless of what they claim, can. But, Daniel Harding and Elim Chan’s appointments as music director to LA Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony respectively, have prompted a gasp. Neither were anticipated (though some I’ve spoken to in the industry aren’t entirely surprised). Harding has a pedigree (his Wikipedia page’s most recent update has nailed the origin story that will please the National Youth Orchestra and Chetham’s School of Music): a connection with the LSO and with the Berlin Philharmonic (as Rattle has). Chan won the Donatella Flick competition in 2014, has done stuff with the New York Phil, Boston, and in the UK the BBC and the RSNO. It’s a big deal for her. It’s undoubtedly a big deal for him. They’re both UK conductors securing US contracts. I’ve just not heard many talk excitedly about either of them (though absence is not necessarily judgment). Former San Francisco Symphony Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, the LA Phil’s Creative Director Designate is of course keen on his incoming colleague Harding, whom he describes as “absolutely one of the most important conductors of our time”. Harding will step onto the podium at Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2027 once Dudamel has vacated it.
