Simone Young Extends Contract as Sydney Symphony’s Chief Conductor Through 2026

In Tuesday’s (2/27) Limelight (Australia), Jason Blake writes, “On the eve of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s 2024 Opening Gala, the SSO has announced that Simone Young will serve as Chief Conductor for another two years. Young’s contract to lead the orchestra now extends to the end of 2026. Young was announced as Chief Conductor Designate in 2019 and formally took up the role of Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2022, becoming the third Australian and first woman to hold that position. Leading the SSO out of the pandemic years, Young’s Chief Conductorship has been marked by a series of artistic highs … In 2024 Young’s concerts include the Sydney premiere of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg’s colossal Gurrelieder; Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with star violinist Augustin Hadelich; Bruckner’s Symphony No. 8, celebrating the 200th anniversary of that composer’s birth; Mozart’s 41st and final symphony (Jupiter) and Die Walküre, the second opera in Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s presentation of the Ring Cycle. In another significant career milestone, Young will become the first female conductor and the first Australian conductor to lead a production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany.”