Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Chief Conductor, Simone Young has previously held the posts of General Manager and Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Music Director of the Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg, Music Director of Opera Australia, Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of both the Gulbenkian Orchestra, Lisbon and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra. Her appointment as Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra has recently been extended through until the end of 2029.

An acknowledged interpreter of the operas of Wagner and Strauss, she has conducted complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival, Vienna Staatsoper, Berlin Staatsoper, Hamburg Staatsoper and, in 2026, La Scala Milan.

Simone Young has an extensive and celebrated recording catalogue. Her first performance as Chief Conductor in Sydney, featuring Mahler’s Symphony No.2 Resurrection and the world premiere of William Barton’s Of the Earth was released worldwide on Deutsche Grammophon, and performances of Elgar & Vaughan Williams, Das Rheingold and Gurrelieder have been filmed for Sydney Symphony On Demand. Her Hamburg recordings include the Ring Cycle, Mathis der Maler (Hindemith), Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln (Schmidt) and symphonies of Bruckner, Brahms and Mahler. She has also recorded Benjamin Britten Folksongs and songs of Richard Strauss with Steve Davislim, and songs by Wagner and Strauss with Lisa Gasteen.

Simone Young’s return invitations to the great orchestras of the world in 2026 will include the Suisse Romande, the Orchestre nationale de Lyon, West German Radio Orchestra Cologne, Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France Paris, National Symphony Orchestra Washington, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the San Francisco and Montreal Symphony Orchestras, Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester. She also returns to ANAM, Melbourne to lead their orchestra in a 30th birthday celebration Gala performance.

Firmly established as one of the world’s leading opera conductors, 2026 will see Simone Young return to the Berlin Staatsoper (Lohengrin and Nabucco), La Scala Milan (the Ring cycle and a new work by Luca Francesconi) and Götterdämmerung, completing Sydney Symphony’s Ring Cycle.

The presentation of Sydney Symphony Orchestra’s Ring Cycle in concert, commencing in 2023, has played to sold out audiences, standing ovations and 5-star reviews. A second, feature-length documentary film, Knowing the Score, showcasing Simone Young and her career was also internationally released in 2023.

In 2025 Simone Young was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sydney. Her many accolades also include the 2024 Conductor of the year (British Opera magazine), Honorary Member (Ehrenmitglied) of the Vienna State Opera, the 2019 European Cultural Prize Vienna, a Professorship at the Musikhochschule in Hamburg, Honorary Doctorates from the Universities of Western Australia and New South Wales, Griffith University and Monash University, the Sir Bernard Heinze Award, the Goethe Institute Medal, the 2013 Helpmann Award for Best Individual Classical Music Performance and the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France.

The international career of Javier Perianes has led him to perform in the most prestigious concert halls, with the world’s foremost orchestras, working with celebrated conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Gustavo Dudamel, Klaus Mäkelä, Gianandrea Noseda, Gustavo Gimeno, Santtu-Matias Rouvali, Simone Young and Vladimir Jurowski.

The 2025/26 season features an array of high-profile concerts, including San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas and Baltimore symphony orchestras, Bamberger Symphoniker, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paolo, Orquestra Sinfónica de Castilla y León, Teatro Real and Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, Sydney and Tasmanian symphony orchestras. Perianes returns to Orquestra de la Comunitat Valencia to play-direct all five Beethoven Concerti, and concludes the play-direct Beethoven cycle with Galicia Symphony.

Perianes frequently appears in recitals across the globe, with performances this season at Heidelberger Frühling, Gulbenkian, Ostrava, Barcelona, Alicante, Scherzo Madrid, Bozar, Liege, Künzelsau and Sydney Opera House.  He also appears at prestigious festivals such as the BBC Proms, Lucerne Festival, Argerich Festival, Salzburg Whitsun, La Roque d’Anthéron, Grafenegg, Prague Spring, Ravello, Stresa, San Sebastián, Santander, Granada, Vail, Blossom, Ravinia and the Canary Island Music Festival. As a natural and keen chamber musician, he regularly collaborates with violist Tabea Zimmermann. The duo will tour Germany and North America including dates at Carnegie Hall, Montreal Salle Bourgie, Princeton, Club Musical de Quebec, and Library of Congress.

Career highlights have included concerts with Wiener Philhamoniker, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Washington’s National, Yomiuri Nippon and Danish National symphony orchestras, Oslo, London, New York, Los Angeles and Czech philharmonic orchestras, Orchestre de Paris, Cleveland, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Swedish and Norwegian Radio orchestras, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Budapest Festival Orchestra.

Perianes exclusively records for harmonia mundi. His most recent releases feature a selection of Scarlatti’s Sonatas, Granados’ Goyescas, and Chopin’s Sonatas No.2 and No.3 interspersed with the three Mazurkas from Op.63. In 2025, Euroarts released a documentary recorded with Perianes at the Reales Alcazares in Seville, showing the special relationship between Scarlatti and Albéniz, linked to the city of Seville.

Perianes was awarded the National Music Prize by the Ministry of Culture of Spain and named Artist of the Year at the International Classical Music Awards (ICMA).