Guest conductor Elim Chan returned to the Cleveland Orchestra for a three-night engagement March 19-21, 2026, at Severance Music Center. Chan, who made her Cleveland debut in July 2022, led two programs featuring works by Beethoven, Bartók, Stravinsky, Scriabin, and Haydn. Soloists included principal trumpet Michael Sachs in the Haydn Trumpet Concerto and violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja in Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 1.

Chan’s return comes as the Cleveland Orchestra searches for a successor to music director Franz Welser-Möst, whose tenure concludes in 2027. Her back-to-back program assignments placed her among conductors under consideration for the position. Chan, who was born in Hong Kong, described her approach to the podium in direct terms: “All I can do is ask, ‘What does Elim want to say?’ That’s the only way the music will be authentic.”

The engagement followed Chan’s most recent previous appearance with the ensemble in August 2025, when she conducted Mahler’s Symphony No. 1. Her March programs included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, Bartók’s Dance Suite, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, and Scriabin’s Poem of Ecstasy across the three performances.

Source: Cleveland Today