Simone Young Stays On As Chief Conductor With The Sydney Symphony Orchestra

Today, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra announces the continuation of Simone Young’s tenure as its Chief Conductor until the end of 2026. Young, who commenced this role in 2022, is only the third Chief Conductor and the first woman to hold the position in the orchestra’s 87 year history.

The Sydney Symphony Orchestra holds its season opening gala tomorrow night with a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 under Young’s baton.

In another career highlight, In August, Young will become the first woman to conduct Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle in the Bayreuth opera festival’s 147-year history, and the first Australian conductor to perform at Germany’s annual event.

Young’s first two seasons as Chief Conductor have been artistic and commercial triumphs from her first concert at the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall in July 2022 after two years of renovations, a concert broadcast live around Australia and livestreamed around the world. Featuring Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No.2 ‘Resurrection’ and the world premiere of First Nations composer William Barton’s Of the Earth, these concerts were a significant landmark in the cultural history of Australia and reflect her championing of both international and Australian repertoire and artists.

Other highlights of Young’s first two seasons include the launch a four-year project to present Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle in concert. It is the first time that the Ring Cycle has been performed in Sydney in almost 30 years, beginning with Das Rheingold in November 2023; the Australian premiere of Violin Concerto No.2 by composer John Williams, performed by German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter; a concert celebrating the 80th birthday of Australian composer Ross Edwards, featuring his Oboe Concerto Bird Spirit Dreaming with the Sydney Symphony’s Principal Oboe Diana Doherty as soloist; and A Midsummer Night’s Dream, combining music by Felix Mendelssohn with Shakespeare’s play, presented in collaboration with Belvoir St. Theatre.

Young has also established new traditions that have become much-anticipated events in Sydney’s cultural calendar, including an annual Opera in Concert (Beethoven’s Fidelio (2022) and the Ring Cycle (2023 onwards) and commencing each Season with a Mahler symphony (No.2 Resurrection in 2022, No.1 in 2023, and No.5 in 2024).

In 2024 Young’s concerts include the Sydney premiere of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, featuring 140 musicians and 285 singers from around Australia, staged to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Schoenberg’s birth; Felix Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with star violinist Augustin Hadelich; Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No.8, celebrating the 200th anniversary of his birth; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 41st and final symphony, (‘Jupiter’) and Die Walküre, the second opera in the sequence of Wagner’s Ring Cycle.

Formed in 1932, The Sydney Symphony Orchestra has been a leading national musical institution bringing hundreds of international musical luminaries to Australia and serving as a platform for Australian performers and composers. It is resident at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, which was constructed after a public campaign initiated and led by the Orchestra’s first Chief Conductor, Sir Eugene Goossens, in the 1950s.