Now in his 24th season, Franz Welser-Möst continues to shape an unmistakable sound culture as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra. Under his leadership, the Orchestra has earned repeated international acclaim for its musical excellence, reaffirmed its strong commitment to new music, and brought annual opera productions back to the stage of Severance Music Center. In recent years, the Orchestra also launched its own streaming platform, Adella.live, and a recording label. Today, it boasts one of the youngest audiences in the United States.

In addition to residencies in the US and Europe, Welser-Möst and the Orchestra perform regularly at the world’s leading international festivals. Welser-Möst will remain Music Director until 2027, making him the longest-serving music director of The Cleveland Orchestra.

Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive artistic partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic. He regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, at the Salzburg Festival, and on tour in Europe, Japan, China, and the US, and has appeared three times on the podium for their celebrated New Year’s Concert (2011, 2013, and 2023). At the Salzburg Festival, Welser- Möst has set new standards in interpretation as an opera conductor, with a special focus on the operas of Richard Strauss.

Among Welser-Möst’s many honors and awards, he was named an Honorary Member of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2024, one of the orchestra’s highest distinctions.

One of the most sought-after artists of her generation, conductor Elim Chan embodies the spirit of contemporary orchestral leadership with her crystalline precision and expressive zeal. She served as principal conductor of the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra between 2019 and 2024 and principal guest conductor of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra between 2018 and 2023.

Having conducted the First Night of the Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2024, Chan returned to the series in 2025 to conduct the renowned Last Night of the Proms. The summer of 2025 also saw her reunite with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and The Cleveland Orchestra, as well as touring with the Concertgebouworkest Young and making her debut at the Musikfest Berlin with the Staatskapelle Berlin.

Highlights in the 2025–26 season include return engagements with The Cleveland Orchestra, Royal Concertge­bouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, ORF Radio-Symphonie-Orchester, Staatskapelle Dresden, Luxembourg Philharmonic, and Orchestre de Paris, among others. She also makes her subscription debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra and debuts with the Münchner Philharmoniker, Orchester der Oper Zürich, Bamberger Symphoniker, and Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.

Chan’s previous debuts include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orches­tra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Wiener Symphoniker, and Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.

Born in Hong Kong, Chan studied at Smith College in Massachusetts and at the University of Michigan. In 2014, she became the first female winner of the Donatella Flick Conducting Compe­tition and went on to spend her 2015–16 season as assistant conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, where she worked closely with Valery Gergiev. In the following season, Chan joined the Dudamel Fellowship Program of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. She also owes much to the support and encouragement of Bernard Haitink, whose masterclasses she attended in Lucerne in 2015.