Young Again

With a flick of the wrist, a rise of an arm, the conductor takes control of more than 50 individually talented musicians, steering them expertly towards a common goal. A great conductor, however, offers that little more: a nuance, an interpretation, a particular understanding.

Simone Young is considered to be such a conductor. One of the leading conductors of her generation, Young has consistently challenged common conventions and prejudices of the profession, forging an unforgettable career both in Australia and overseas.

Born in Sydney, Young made her conducting debut at the age of 24 at the Sydney Opera House. She never looked back, making a spectacular international career, where she has worked with the Cologne Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Vienna State Opera and the New York Metropolitan Opera. She has been Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra since August 2005. Yet somehow, in spite of international acclaim and a myriad of awards, all who know her say she remains down to earth and undeniably proud to be Australian.

Having benefited directly from being challenged and pushed by her teachers, Young has a commitment for nurturing young musical talents, a number of whom she directly patrons. Her work with the musicians from the Australian National Academy of Music (ANAM) will see them tested and excel under her exacting standards.

Acknowledged interpreter of the operas of Wagner and Strauss including Der Ring des Nibelungen, which she has conducted most recently to great adulation at the Staatsoper in Berlin, and the Vienna Staatsoper, Young brings a definite sound to her performances. She is renown for being particular, almost obsessive, about intimate details of the works she performs, finding the subtleties in in the beginning and end points as well as teasing out the nuances and high points within the music. Young is exacting, in herself and her expectations of her musicians, with the ability to bring about a unique energy and commitment in the interpretation. 

Young has a natural affinity for the grand music of the late Romantic Germanic repertoire. This is something that she has in common with internationally awarded composer and violist, Brett Dean, who will perform in his own composition, Viola Concerto, with Young conducting in Melbourne.

Dean and Young have known one another for decades. Dean and his family put Young up in their apartment in Berlin in the early days of her conducting career, when she arrived as an assistant to acclaimed conductor Daniel Barenboim. Having forged a friendship and professional relationship, well before the heights of success and international renown they now enjoy, they have grown up and influenced one another’s career, performing together a number of times.

The BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Symphony Australia and the Sydney Symphony, jointly commissioned the Viola Concerto composed by Dean. In 2006, Young and Dean premiered it in Australia with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. This very personal work has been applauded as one of Dean’s most successful orchestral works (The Guardian).

It will undoubtedly be a highlight on a night that will also feature the otherworldly Messiaen L’Acension to the glory and drama of Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.

Simone Young’s only Melbourne performance is with musicians from ANAM.

Simone Young Conducts — Gala Concert
Friday, August 8
7pm at the Melbourne Recital Centre
See anam.com.au  for tickets and details

Photographer: Berthold Fabricius

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