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.

British-Australian mezzo-soprano Deborah Humble is known internationally for her commanding performances of the dramatic and Wagnerian repertoire. In 2025, she sings Verdi’s Requiem with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Her extensive appearances in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen include Erda and Waltraute in three full cycles with Melbourne Opera—roles also performed in multiple productions for Opera Australia, alongside her recent role debut as Fricka. She sang Erda in Siegfried (Boston Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Halle Opera), Erda in Das Rheingold (Hong Kong Philharmonic, Saffron Opera Group), and Wellgunde in Götterdämmerung (Saffron Opera Group), with further complete cycles in Bari and Ludwigshafen. For Hamburg State Opera, she sang Erda, Waltraute and Schwertleite. She also performed Waltraute in Die Walküre with Sydney Symphony.

Deborah’s Australian roles include Amneris in Aida and Brigitta in Die tote Stadt (Opera Australia), and Dalila in Samson et Dalila and Magdalena in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Melbourne Opera). In concert, she sang the Princess in Suor Angelica with Melbourne Opera and performed Clairon in Capriccio and Clytemnestra in Elektra with Victorian Opera. Internationally, she has appeared as Mary in Der fliegende Holländer (Opéra de Lille and Hamburg); Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, Olga in Eugene Onegin (Hamburg); and Alisa in Lucia di Lammermoor (Hamburg and Teatro Mario del Monaco). She sang Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde with the Mexico City Symphony and Brigitta in Die tote Stadt with the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.

A frequent concert soloist, Deborah's performances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with Sydney Symphony under Simone Young, celebrating the reopening of the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall (broadcast live on ABC TV and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon), and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with West Australian Symphony and at Singapore's Esplanade Theatre. She has sung Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder (Sydney Symphony), Verdi’s Requiem (Sage Concert Hall, UK and Orchestra Wellington), Elgar’s The Kingdom (Melbourne Bach Choir), Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 (Queensland Symphony), Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle (Melbourne Symphony Orchestra), Handel’s Messiah (New Zealand Symphony Orchestra), and the Wesendonck Lieder (Orchestra Wellington).

Her recordings include The Love for Three Oranges with Opera Australia (Chandos, cond. Richard Hickox); and Der Ring des Nibelungen with Staatsoper Hamburg (Oehms, cond. Simone Young) and Hong Kong Philharmonic (Naxos, cond. Jaap van Zweden).

Deborah received critical acclaim and a Green Room Award nomination for her performances as Clytemnestra (Elektra, Victorian Opera) and as Erda and Waltraute in Der Ring des Nibelungen (Melbourne Opera).

Tenor Shanul Sharma made his operatic debut in 2014 with Opera Australia as Don Ramiro in Rossini’s La Cenerentola, followed by the Madman in Berg’s Wozzeck (2019) and the roles of Il Conte di Libenskof in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims and The Student in Reimann’s The Ghost Sonata, to critical acclaim in both Sydney and Melbourne. Shanul has also appeared in concert with the Opera Australia Orchestra for Mazda Opera in the Domain which was broadcast live on ABC Classic.

Shanul will make two significant debuts this year: for the Opera national de Paris in their new production of Satyagraha and for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Simone Young conducting, as Obadiah and Ahab in Mendelssohn’s Elijah. He will also return to Opera Australia as Don Ottavio in the national tour of Don Giovanni.

Last year he began the year by singing the Indian National Anthem, unaccompanied, in front of a sell-out crowd at the Pink Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground and ended the year by singing the Australian National Anthem at the Boxing Day test in Melbourne.  Further performances included the role of Almaviva (The Barber of Seville) for Opera Australia in both their Sydney and Melbourne seasons; Opera by the Lakes; Arnold (Guillaume Tell) and the tenor solos in Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle for Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, and a Victorian regional tour of A Night at the Opera.

Most recently Shanul has performed the roles of Tamino (The Magic Flute), Gandhi (Satyagraha), and Almaviva (The Barber of Seville) on the national tour, all for Opera Australia; the role of Cardinale Francesco Barberini in the world premiere of Richard Mills’ new opera, Galileo, for Victorian Opera; Opera Queensland's Bel Canto festival, and his Perth Festival debut in the festival’s opening night concert, Music of the Spheres. Shanul also returned to Germany to perform the role of Gandhi in an extended season of Satyagraha (Glass) with Hannover State Opera. 

With other companies Shanul has most notably appeared as Il Conte di Libenskof for the Bolshoi Theatre of Russia in Moscow (2020 & 2019) and the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Italy (2018); in the title role of Mozart’s Mitridate, Re di Ponto at Teatro Olimpico for Festival Vicenza in Lirica (Sept 2021); Almaviva for Teatro del Giglio in Lucca, Italy (2018); and Ernesto in Donizetti’s Don Pasquale in Pavia, Italy (2017). Shanul  also represented the Rossini Opera Festival at the LaVerdi Auditorium in Milan as the tenor soloist in Rossini’s Stabat Mater and at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo in 2018, and has performed the roles of Florville in Rossini’s Il Signor Bruschino, the title role in Massenet’s Werther and the tenor soloist in Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah.

Shanul regularly appears in festivals and features at gala performances in Australia as well as in Italy and the United Kingdom, also performing in Christopher Tin’s Grammy Award winning composition Calling All Dawns at the Llangollen Festival in Wales in 2017.

Shanul holds an MA in Advanced Vocal Studies from the Wales International Academy of Voice in Cardiff, UK and is a winner of the 2017 Canto Lirico discipline and the Rossini International Award from Pesaro, Italy. He remains the only artist to have won both the awards in the same calendar year. In 2019, he was awarded Broadway World Sydney’s Best Male Performer in an Opera for his performance as The Student in The Ghost Sonata for Opera Australia and was a part of the company's Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program from 2018-2021.

Samuel Dundas’ performance experience encompasses opera, music theatre, oratorio and recital. He has sung in concert throughout Australia and New Zealand, including with the Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Tasmanian, Queensland and West Australian Symphony Orchestras, the Australian Youth Orchestra and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra.

Major role debuts again feature prominently in Samuel Dundas’ calendar this year, as he takes on the title role in Eugen Onegin for West Australian Opera and Nerone (The Coronation of Poppea, Kats-Chernin) for Victorian Opera. He also returns to Opera Australia as Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), to the Sydney Symphony as Gunther (Die Götterdämmerung) and to Sydney Philharmonia Choirs as Christus (St. John Passion).

Samuel Dundas’ recent engagements include the role of Cave in Eucalyptus (Jonathan Mills) for Perth and Brisbane Festivals and for Victorian Opera; Figaro (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Horatio (Hamlet: Dean) and his role debut as Wolfram (Tannhäuser) for Opera Australia; Dandini (La Cenerentola) and Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor) for Opera Queensland; the Count (Capriccio) and the title role in Galileo (Richard Mills) for Victorian Opera; Marcello (La boheme) and Sharpless for West Australian Opera, Opera Queensland and New Zealand Opera; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Donner (Das Rheingold) for Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Simone Young conducting. On the concert platform he has also been heard as Dr Falke (Die Fledermaus), in Beethoven 9 and Faure’s Requiem with West Australian Symphony, Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Harmony Mass and the Christmas Gala concert for Tasmanian Symphony and in the opening concert of Perth Festival, Music of the Spheres.

Samuel has also appeared in the role of Aphron in The Golden Cockerel for Adelaide Festival, as Marcello and the title role in Voss for State Opera South Australia, Marcello also for Opera Australia, Carmina Burana for Festival of Voices, Hobart and Adelaide Symphony, Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol for Victorian Opera, and given recitals including The Wanderer’s Life in Burnie, for the Ten Days on the Island Festival, for Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and in the Chamber Landscapes series at Ukaria for Adelaide Festival.

Samuel joined Opera Australia as a member of the Moffatt Oxenbould Young Artist Program and subsequently became a principal artist with the company, where his many roles have included Marcello, Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Papageno and Priest (The Magic Flute), Dr Malatesta (Don Pasquale), Belcore (The Elixir of Love), Silvio (Pagliacci), Marquis (La Traviata), Prosdocimo (Il turco in Italia), Yamadori (Madama Butterfly), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Ceprano (Rigoletto), Pish Tush (The Mikado), Morales (Carmen), Gaoler (Tosca), Sid (Albert Herring), Fiorello, Ambrogio and Notary (The Barber of Seville), Doctor/Inquisitor/Judge/Stanislaus (Candide), Handsome (La Fanciulla del West), Cascada (The Merry Widow) and Starveling (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). He has also taken the title role in Opera Australia’s Regional Tour of Don Giovanni and the roles of the High Priest, Politician and The Reporter in Sydney Opera House: The Opera, celebrating Opera Australia’s 60th Anniversary Season on the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

Further opera engagements include the title role in Ned Kelly (Styles) commissioned by Lost & Found Opera and Perth Festival; Dancairo and Morales in Carmen for State Opera South Australia; Count Carl Magnus Malcolm in A Little Night Music for Victorian Opera; Papageno for New Zealand Opera; Marcello for Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour and in Hanoi, Vietnam; Enrico, Count Almaviva (The Marriage of Figaro) and Valentin (Faust) for West Australian Opera; Morales and Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet) in concert performances with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra.

After making his operatic debut with Opera Queensland in 2005, Samuel went on to become a member of Victorian Opera’s Artist Development program. He has since performed the title role in Don Giovanni, Papageno, Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Harasta (The Cunning Little Vixen), Guglielmo, Belcore, Harlequin (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Second Soldier (The Love of the Nightingale), Creon/The Messenger (Oedipus Rex) and Chief Clerk (Metamorphosis), as well as Schaunard in the Puccini: The Sacred and Profane gala concert for the company.

Further concert engagements have included Fauré’s Requiem with the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras, Carmina Burana with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Brahms Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Opera Under the Stars, Broome, and the inaugural concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre in Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music.

Samuel Dundas is a graduate of the Melba Conservatorium of Music, winner of the Lady Fairfax New York Scholarship and was the proud recipient of the inaugural Dame Heather Begg Award. He is formerly a member of the vocal faculty at Hobart Conservatorium of Music.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs is Australia’s premier choral organisation. Since it was founded in 1920, SPC has brought people together through music, and for over five decades, it has been the heartbeat of choral performance at the Sydney Opera House.

Led by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark OAM and Associate Music Director Dr Elizabeth Scott, and with more than 2,000 singers across six ensembles, SPC brings the full power of the human voice to dynamic music making. From blockbuster choral classics like Carmina Burana or the Verdi Requiem, to the soaring soundtracks of films such as Gladiator, heartwarming musical theatre, and world premieres by leading Australian composers.

Each year, SPC performs approximately 50 performances across Sydney and beyond, collaborating with top-tier orchestras, soloists and conductors, performing regularly with many of Australia’s most prominent arts companies and festivals. SPC has performed in the Sydney Opera House, Hamer Hall Melbourne, the Singapore National Football Stadium, Westminster Abbey, the Tokyo Dome and the Royal Albert Hall. Highlights over the years have included the opening of the Sydney Opera House, the Sydney and Nagano Olympic Games and being the first Australian choir to perform at the BBC Proms. SPC is also proud to have been the choir of choice for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra since 1936.

Sydney Philharmonia Choirs concerts celebrate diversity – of voices, of stories, and of sound – with programs that allow singers and audiences to connect with an exhilarating range of music in languages from English to Gadigal, keeping things fresh with premieres, commissions and new interpretations of beloved classics.