Maestro star Simone Young
18/08/2009
As she heads to Edinburgh conductor says it's all in the game for Team Opera
The Blether...
Conductor Simone Young: What's on your mind this week?
Sydney Opera House. I was born in 1961 and they were building it through most of the ’60s. It grew up with me and, as a child, it was my dream that one day I’d play there. I learned the piano and studied composition after high school. I began accompanying opera singers, which led to working with opera companies and conductors. My break came when somebody was ill and they needed someone at the last minute – the classic showbiz story. That was in 1985. I haven’t looked back.
Last year the BBC approached me to be a judge on Maestro, a show taking a lighthearted approach to attract a prime time audience for classical music. It appealed to me because we’d get the chance to show people and talk about what a conductor actually does.
Most people think the orchestra could do it without a conductor. The closest analogy is that of a coach of a really fantastic sporting team. Everybody on the team is extremely talented but you need someone in charge who’s going to provide strategy and cohesion.
I conducted the Australian national anthem at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics. I’ve worked in loads of fantastic places, the Vienna State Opera, the Metropolitan, Covent Garden… I’ve conducted some of the world’s best orchestras in some of the most wonderful buildings.
Everyone tells me the Usher Hall is one of the most beautiful concert halls so I’m very much looking forward to conducting there!
Simone Young is conducting Hamburg State Opera’s performance of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer (The Flying Dutchman) at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, on September 1
www.eif.co.uk/flyingdutchman
Loading...
More Features...
Letter To Younger Self
Investigation
- 'The game’s a bogey for council tax freeze'
- Cereal killer: why the cost of food is set to soar
- What is the future of CCTV?
- When markets attack
- Who will be this year’s man in the white suit?
- The Angola 3
- ‘Methadone is a noose around my neck’
- Will Britain's bookstores survive?
- The Great Stagnation?
- How do you solve a problem like Waziristan?
Cover Feature
Interview
Opinion
- Why are we not giving enough aid to Pakistan?
- Libraries: The NHS of the mind
- Maradona - hand of god or feet of clay?
- Why I'm supporting England
- How will the World Cup change South Africa?
- It's broken. Let's fix it. Why it's time to save government from itself
- Alain de Botton
- A tale of two kidneys
- Where now for Obama?
- Mark Thomas
Q & A
Have Your Say
Reportage
Edinburgh Festivals '09
- Irvine Welsh
- Maestro star Simone Young
- 5 Questions For... Danielle Ward
- 5 Questions For... Jon Holmes
- 5 Questions For... Craig Hill
- Forty years of Just A Minute
- Classic opera brought to life - by puppets
- 5 Questions For... Hardeep Singh Kohli
- Carol Ann Duffy comes home
- Why witches put a spell on you...
Exclusive
Competition
Merry Christmas
The Big Decade Review
The Blether
Author Interview
Book reviews
Author interview
Film reviews
Day out deals
Bird's Eye View...
Spotlight
info spot
Competition Winner
The five lucky winners of the SimplyLive.com Kiss USB Stick competition are: Mr Luke Smith, Swansea; Joe Thomas, Southampton; Alister Strachan, Inverurie; Andrew Robinson, Dundee; Agnes Carmichael, Bellshill










Share this on