Simone Young will be the first Australian and first woman to conduct Wagner's Ring Cycle at Bayreuth
Simone Young, Sydney Symphony Orchestra's Chief Conductor, makes a historic debut at one of Europe's most exclusive theatres this month. (Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Craig Abercrombie)
Australian conductor Simone Young has been smashing glass ceilings since she first stepped on the Sydney Opera House podium in 1985.
She also has many firsts next to her name, including being the first woman and youngest resident conductor at Opera Australia, and the first woman to conduct the Vienna State Opera, Vienna Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.
In 2022 Young became the first woman, and only the third Australian to become Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
This month, she heads to the heartland of opera to take on one of the most strenuous conducting jobs there is: Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, an epic 15 hours of music across four operas.
Young will be the first Australian ever to conduct at Bayreuth Festival, which is performed at the theatre Wagner built specifically to stage his works, in a festival he started in 1876.
She will also be the first woman to conduct the full Ring Cycle there.
"It is [an] incredible honour being the first Australian to conduct [at Bayreuth]," Young says.
"Until last year I thought it would never happen, but then it did and it was wonderful."
Young is part of a line up of three women taking the conductor's podium at Bayreuth. It's a theatre where music and power often meet. Many politicians have attended Bayreuth, from Germany's former chancellor Angela Merkel to Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Union.
But for musicians, "Bayreuth was the theatre where the full Ring Cycle was performed for the first time," Young says. "It [is] the mecca for Wagner performers and audience."
The making of the Ring Cycle
The Ring Cycle is a story about power, fought between heroes, giants and gods in an epic that rivals The Lord Of The Rings.
The story might even sound familiar. Wagner and J.R.R Tolkien drew from the same sources in Norse mythology for their tales.
In Wagner's Ring Cycle, the dwarf Alberich forges a ring from gold he stole from the Rhine maidens, guardians of a gold nugget laden with power.
The ring is then stolen by Wotan, the chief of the gods. Embittered, Alberich curses the ring, triggering a power struggle that engulfs the whole world.
Wagner spent 26 years realising the Ring Cycle, culminating in building a theatre to stage its first complete performance. (Wikimedia Commons: Rico Neitzel)
"There's a word for Wagner's operas in German: Gesamtkunstwerk," Young says. "It describes how he conceived a whole work which incorporates many artforms."
Wagner spent 26 years crafting the Ring Cycle's plot, text, music, and even the stage direction.
To complete his vision, Wagner oversaw the building of a theatre where his enormous operas could be staged.
Young first visited Bayreuth 30 years ago as an associate of acclaimed conductor Daniel Barenboim.
"Bayreuth has a tradition of having very challenging theatrical productions," Young says. "It also has some of the finest Wagner playing from the orchestra and singing from the actors."
Although Young is making history as the first woman to conduct the full Ring Cycle at Bayreuth, "the audience won't actually see me," Young says.
"There is a structure like a big shell that goes over the pit in Bayreuth auditorium, so the conductor and the orchestra are completely invisible."
In Wagner's designs, "the orchestra pit goes down in steps and stairs to a depth of almost two storeys," Young describes.
Wagner used sound effects in many of his works, such as brass to represent the underworld. "The brass [is] right down in the basement," Young says, so the sound emerges into the hall from the pit many metres below the audience.
Why audiences are drawn to watch the Ring Cycle
There's a sense of accomplishment from undertaking the marathon that is watching the full Ring Cycle. The four operas take about 15 hours, are sung entirely in German and are usually performed over four nights.
At Bayreuth, Young will conduct three full performances of the Ring Cycle from 28 July to 25 August.
But you don't have to fly to Germany to experience this music.
There are many ways to experience Wagner's Ring Cycle: as a staged opera, in concert and on the cinematic screen. (Sydney Symphony Orchestra: Daniel Boud)
There are staged performances in Australia – the last one was presented by Opera Australia in Brisbane in 2023. You can also catch cinema versions of international productions, or hear the music in concert performances.
Music writer Shamistha de Soysa thinks there's great value in seeing different productions of the Ring Cycle.
She's seen the full production, but has also seen Das Rheingold, the first opera, several other times, including one performance conducted by Young.
"Each experience gave me a different appreciation and highlighted different details of the story and the music," she says.
De Soysa feels that concert versions put much more emphasis on the pure musical aspects of the work, as opposed to full productions with costumes, props and sets.
The Sydney Symphony is currently presenting the Ring Cycle as a multi-year project in the Sydney Opera House's concert hall, conducted by Young.
In November, Australian audiences will even get a little taste of the home of Wagner, with singers from Bayreuth performing in Sydney Symphony's concert of Die Walküre, the second instalment of the series.
Hear Simone Young's Bayreuth performances of the Ring Cycle on ABC Classic and the ABC listen app, 8pm on 7 and 21 September, and 5 and 12 October.