It has been announced that Australian conductor Simone Young will conduct the upcoming Ring Cycle at Bayreuth Festival.

Philippe Jordan was originally booked to conduct the performances, but “other commitments” compelled him to withdraw.

Young will be the first female conductor to conduct the tetralogy in Bayreuth and her presence on the podium means that, for the first time, there will be more female conductors than male conductors at Bayreuth – a remarkable turnaround, given that the festival had been an all-male affair until 2021, when Oksana Lyniv conducted The Flying Dutchman.

Simone Young. Photo supplied

Lyniv returns again this year (for her fourth Flying Dutchman). Atlanta Symphony Orchestra music director Nathalie Stutzmann will return to conduct Tannhäuser, having led the new production in 2023. Young will helm three cycles of the four-opera Ring, from 28 July to 25 August.

Young is Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra who has held a reputation as a Wagner specialist since her early career; she has conducted multiple Ring Cycles at the Vienna State Opera and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, as well as his Die Walküre and Die Meistersinger...