The San Francisco Symphony has named Jenny Wong as the new director of the Symphony Chorus, filling a vacancy created when Ragnar Bohlinresigned the postin 2021.
The announcement on Monday, Sept. 18, makes Wong, 36, only the fourth choral conductor to lead the ensemble in its 50-year history.
Wong currently serves as associate artistic director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, a post she said she plans to retain.
“The wonderful thing about this is that it’s not a 9-to-5 job,” Wong told the Chronicle. “As long as the rehearsal and performance schedules don’t conflict, I can manage my own study time, which is the bulk of the work — being prepared with the music.”
Wong’s work as a guest conductor during the 2022-23 season included preparing the chorus for performances ofMahler’s Second Symphonyin October 2022, as well as Kaija Saariaho’s opera “Adriana Mater” and Busoni’s Piano Concerto in June 2023. Before that she conducted a performance of Orff’s “Carmina Burana” in May 2022.
“Working with Jenny last season … was musically inspiring, and I hugely enjoyed her thoughtful and collaborative approach,” Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen said in a statement. “I know she’s going to bring a great deal of energy, expertise, and joy to the Chorus in her new role.”
Wong said her interest in less familiar repertoire was one of the factors that made the San Francisco post appealing.
“There’s a lot of excitement over the dynamic artistic programming,” she said. “And for a symphonic chorus, that means we’re not only singing the traditional classics, but also music that’s contemporary, and music written by composers with different voices.”
During her first season in San Francisco, Wong’s assignments will include Steven Stucky’s orchestral version of Stravinsky’s “Les Noces” (Nov. 17-18), Hans Zimmer’s score for the film “Gladiator” (May 22-23) and Mahler’s Third Symphony (June 28-30). The season’s first outing for the chorus is Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, scheduled for Oct. 19-22 under Music Director LaureateMichael Tilson Thomas.
Wong was born in Hong Kong and came to the U.S. as an undergraduate to study voice at the University of Illinois. She returned to Hong Kong after graduation to teach music in middle school and high school.
“I thought I would retire from that job,” she said. “But then our chorus won a number of international competitions, and I decided I really wanted to learn to conduct, because no one had ever taught me before.”
She returned to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies in conducting at the University of Southern California, and in 2016 joined the Los Angeles Master Chorale. She’s conducted a wide range of music, including works by Arnold Schoenberg, Kate Soper and Pulitzer Prize winners Du Yun and Raven Chacon.
She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and 9-month-old child.
“Every singer’s voice is like a fingerprint,” Wong said. “I trained as a soloist, but it was really when I heard my voice mixed with other voices, that what came out was always more than you could imagine.
“So when it comes to choral conducting, I find that there is something very human and unique about shaping the sounds and the collective breaths of those singers in front of me.”
Reach Joshua Kosman:jkosman@sfchronicle.com; Twitter:@JoshuaKosman