Simone Young‘s career continues to go from strength to strength. Last month, she was named Conductor of the Year at the 2024 International Opera Awards for her recent work at La Scala, Vienna State Opera and the Bayreuth Festival, where she became the first Australian and the first woman to conduct Wagner’s Ring Cycle earlier this year.

Simone Young. Photo supplied

Young is currently in Milan to conduct three performances of Das Rheingold at Teatro alla Scala (28 October – 3 November) replacing Christian Thielemann, who had to withdraw to undergo tendon surgery. Young will share Thielemann’s Das Rheingold dates with British conductor Alexander Soddy. The production is the start of a new Ring Cycle for La Scala directed by Sir David McVicar.

Young then returns to Australia to lead two concert performances of Die Walküre on 15 and 17 November. Die Walküre is the second instalment in the Ring Cycle, which she is conducting over four years for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra where she is Chief Conductor.

Other major winners at this year’s International Opera Awards included Komische Oper Berlin,...