For much of Simone Young's conducting career, she has been branded a trailblazer. But it's a label that the seasoned maestro baulks at.
In 1986, at 25 years old, she became the first woman and youngest person to be appointed as resident conductor for Opera Australia (OA). In 1993, she became the first woman to conduct the Vienna State Opera, and then the Vienna Philharmonic in 2005. She is now the first woman chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), a role she landed in 2019. She is also the first woman to record Richard Wagner's complete Ring Cycle and all of Anton Bruckner's symphonies.
