Australian conductor Simone Young will conduct three upcoming performances of Das Rheingold at Teatro all Scala (La Scala) from 28 October  – 3 November as a replacement for Christian Thielemann, who has withdraw from upcoming engagements due to surgery.

Young will split Thielemann’s Das Rheingold dates with the British conductor and pianist Alexander Soddy.

Simone Young. Photo supplied

Thielemann has announced that he will undergo tendon surgery in October, requiring him to cancel a string of upcoming engagements. Missing Das Rheingold as a result, Thielemann has made the decision to withdraw from all performances of La Scala’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. 

“Since he is unable to conduct the prologue to the Tetralogy, which is characterized as a unified artistic endeavor, Maestro Thielemann has announced his intention to withdraw from the entire project,” said La Scala.

La Scala is yet to announce the conductors for the rest of the Ring Cycle.

In July, Young also became the first woman ever to conduct the Ring Cycle at Bayreuth, and the first Australian conductor to grace its stage.

Last November, Young conducted Das Rheingold with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) for the orchestra’s first performance of the work in...