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.

Simon O’Neill is one of the most sought-after Heldentenors at the world's leading opera houses and festivals, and is particularly successful in Wagnerian roles such as Siegfried, Siegmund, Parsifal, Lohengrin and Tristan as well as Florestan, Idomeneo and Otello.

His engagements in the 2023/24 season include Lohengrin under Eun Sun Kim in San Francisco, Das Rheingold in concert performances in Sydney under Simone Young as well as in Los Angeles under Gustavo Dudamel, Tannhäuser at the Nikikai Tokyo, Tristan at the Royal Opera Copenhagen and in concert with the Auckland Philharmonia under Giordano Bellincampi, Handel’s Messiah and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius.

Highlights of recent seasons include his debut at the Opéra National de Paris as Parsifal, which he also interpreted at the Bavarian State Opera, Tristan at Santa Fe Opera and Glyndebourne, Florestan in Fidelio with Daniel Barenboim and Sir Antonio Pappano, Boris in Katya Kabanova with the London Symphony Orchestra and Siegfried in concert with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle and with the Basel Symphony Orchestra under Mark Elder.

Outstanding milestones in his career include opening the season at La Scala in Milan under Daniel Barenboim as Siegmund, a role he has also sung with Franz Welser-Möst at the Vienna State Opera, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, Berlin, Hamburg and Bayersicher Staatsopern, as well as his further appearances in London as Lohengrin, Fidelio, Stolzing and Parsifal; other important career milestones include his debut as the Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Berlin State Opera with Simone Young and as the Tambourmajor in Wozzeck with Levine at the Metropolitan Opera. In 2009 Simon O'Neill made his role debut in concert as Otello with the London Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis. He has since appeared in this role on stages in Houston, Boston, Auckland and Sydney. At the Bayreuth Festival he made his debut as Lohengrin in Hans Neuenfels' production with Andris Nelsons and returned as Parsifal in Stefan Herheim's acclaimed production under Daniele Gatti. His guest appearances at the Salzburg Festival included Florestan with Daniel Barenboim and Die Zauberflöte with Riccardo Muti.

Simon O'Neill has worked with outstanding conductors such as Antonio Pappano, Pierre Boulez, Fabio Luisi, Donald Runnicles, Christian Thielemann, Jaap van Zweden, Daniel Harding, Esa Pekka Salonen and Gustavo Dudamel, in addition to those already mentioned.

His broad concert repertoire, which includes Mahler's Lied von der Erde and Eighth Symphony, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis and Ninth Symphony, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, and Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, has taken him to the world's most prestigious concert halls, including Carnegie Hall New York, the Royal Albert and Royal Festival Hall London, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Rome and the NHK Hall in Tokyo. Simon also performed Die Walküre in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic (Barenboim), the New York Philharmonic (Van Zweden) and the Berlin Staatskapelle (Rattle).

His discography includes the Lied album Distant Beloved (Decca), his award-winning solo album Father and Son: Wagner Scenes and Arias (EMI), Siegfried in the Ring under Jaap van Zweden (Naxos), with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and the  Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle, Otello and Der Freischütz under Colin Davis (LSO Live), Beethoven’s Symphony No.9. Valkyrie under Barenboim from La Scala and Parsifal with Pappano from Covent Garden have been released on Blu-ray. His Deutsche Grammophon recording of Mahler’s Symphony No.8 with Gustavo Dudamel won a Grammy Award.

Simon O'Neill was appointed an Officer of New Zealand Order of Merit by Queen Elizabeth II. He is a graduate and Doctor (h.c.) of Music from Victoria University of Wellington and a graduate of the University of Otago, Manhattan School of Music and Juilliard Opera Center. His portrait graced the 1998 New Zealand one-dollar stamp.

Helpmann Award-winning Australian baritone Warwick Fyfe is widely acclaimed for his powerful stage presence and vocal versatility across a diverse repertoire.

In 2023, he returned to Opera Australia as Amonasro (Aida) and Alberich (Der Ring des Nibelungen), and to Melbourne Opera as Wotan/The Wanderer in their landmark Ring Cycle. His 2024 engagements included Scarpia (Tosca) for Opera Australia, Vodnik (Rusalka) for West Australian Opera, and Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder with the Sydney Symphony. In 2025, he makes his role début as Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) for Melbourne Opera, and performs Vodnik for Opera Australia, Ferrando (Il trovatore) for West Australian Opera, and Alberich (Siegfried) in concert with the Sydney Symphony.

Other notable appearances include Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Sancho Panza (Don Quichotte), Geronio (Il turco in Italia), Barone di Trombonok (Il viaggio a Reims), and Klingsor (Parsifal) for Opera Australia; Alberich (Das Rheingold) for the Japan Philharmonic and Tianjin Symphony; Athanaël (Thaïs) and Amonasro for Finnish National Opera; Bartolo (Il barbiere di Siviglia) for Victorian Opera; Peter (Hansel and Gretel) and Wotan (Die Walküre) in Singapore; Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for the Adelaide Festival; and Pizarro (Fidelio) in Melbourne and Perth.

A long-standing principal artist with Opera Australia, Warwick’s past roles include the title roles in Rigoletto, Falstaff and Der fliegende Holländer, as well as Mandryka (Arabella), the Four Villains (The Tales of Hoffmann), Dr Schön (Lulu), Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Papageno (The Magic Flute), Germont (La traviata), Leporello (Don Giovanni), and Pizarro.

His extensive concert repertoire spans work with all major Australian symphony orchestras, as well as the Warsaw Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Orchestra of the Music Makers (Singapore), Orchestra Wellington and Auckland Philharmonia. Highlights include Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and Mozart’s Requiem.

Warwick received a Helpmann Award in 2013 for his portrayal of Alberich in the Melbourne Ring Cycle and was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in 2015 to study Wagnerian technique in Germany, the UK and the USA.

Australian/British soprano Samantha Clarke was the winner of the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal and prize winner in the 2019 Grange International Festival Singing Competition. Samantha studied at the Royal Northern College of Music, as a Sir John Fisher Foundation and Independent Opera Scholar, under the tutelage of Mary Plazas. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama Opera School as a Baroness de Turckheim Scholar, Help Musicians, Tait Memorial and Countess of Munster Trust Scholar and studied with Yvonne Kenny.

In addition to the 2019 Guildhall Gold Medal, Samantha is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Leverhulme Royal Northern College of Music Award, the Dame Eva Turner Award and the Michael and Joyce Kennedy Award for the singing of Strauss.

In the 2025/26 season Samantha returns to Opera Australia as Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), and is Artist in Residence with the West Australian Opera where she will make role debuts as Juliette (Roméo et Juliette) and Tatyana (Eugene Onegin). Her concert engagements include The Creation with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra/Eivind Aadland and on tour with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Václav Luks, Waldvogel in concert performances of Siegfried with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra/Simone Young, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Nicholas Carter and Messiah with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra/Sofi Jeannin. Later in 2026, she performs Mozart’s Requiem, Mendelssohn's Elijah and Woglinde (Götterdämmerung) in concert with Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Her operatic roles include: Violetta (La traviata), Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte), Helena (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Countess (Le Nozze di Figaro), Anne Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), The Governess (The Turn of the Screw) and the title role in Theodora.

Recent and future engagements include Countess (Le nozze di Figaro) at Garsington, Fiordiligi (Cosi fan tutte) with English National Opera, the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy in Japan, Grange Festival and Opera Queensland, Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) and Theodora for Pinchgut Opera, Woglinde (Das Rheingold), Marzelline (Fidelio) and Mendelssohn’s (Midsummer Night’s Dream) with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young, Violetta (La traviata) with The Grange Festival, Opera Australia and West Australian Opera, a US tour with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, Messiah and War Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 in Tasmania and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Western Australia Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner.

Samantha features on the Resonus label’s recording Samuel Barber: The Complete Songs with accompanist Dylan Perez.

Noa Beinart was born in Tel Aviv and completed her vocal studies at the University Hanns Eisler in Berlin in the vocal class of Christine Schäfer. She gained her first stage experience in college productions in roles such as Amastre (Serse) and Annina (Der Rosenkavalier). After graduation from the Hanns Eisler university in 2018 she became a member of the opera studio of the Bayrische Staatsoper Munich.

In 2020 she sang Grimgerde in Die Walküre at the Opéra National de Paris under the baton of Philippe Jordan. The same year she was engaged by the Vienna State Opera as ensemble member where she has sung Mary in Der fliegende Holländer, Auntie in Peter Grimes, Erda in Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Schwertleite in Walküre, Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana, 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung and Gaea in Daphne.

In the summer 2021 she debuted as 2nd maid in Elektra at the Salzburg Festival where she returned in 2022 as 3rd Lady in Die Zauberflöte. In 2022 she sang the 1st Norn in Götterdämmerung in a new Ring cycle production conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin.