Young, Simone (1961– )

Australian conductor. She conducted Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado for Australian Opera (1985) and assisted Barenboim at Bayreuth. She conducted Puccini's La Bohème with the Cologne Opera (1987) and the Berlin Komische Oper (1992); in 1992 she conducted Bizet's The Tales of Hoffmann with the Vienna Volksoper. She was the first woman to conduct Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. She made her London debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1994 with Rossini's Rigoletto; she has also conducted in Paris (at the Opéra Bastille), Munich, and Florence. Her New York debut was made at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1996. She has also conducted Puccini's Tosca, Janáček's Jenůfa, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde and Siegfried, and Richard Strauss's Elektra and Salome.