Simone Young Comes Home To Sydney To Perform 'My Favourite Works With Dear Friends'

Internationally renowned Australian conductor Simone Young will this month perform a Romantic-inspired program with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) and acclaimEd English pianist Imogen Cooper at the Sydney Opera House - the venue where Young began her conducting career more than three decades ago.

Sydney-born Young says "it's always wonderful to come home to Sydney and perform some of my favourite works with dear friends".

"Over the last few years the SSO and I have worked through some of the Bruckner symphonies, repertoire which is very close to my heart," Young says. "The brass section and I have long wanted to do Bruckner 5, as its rousing chorales are guaranteed to lift the roof!"

Young is also keen to work with Imogen Cooper, who will perform Beethoven's Second Piano Concerto in the program at the Sydney Opera House.

"Imogen Cooper is a remarkable artist of great renown," Young says. "We have never worked together before and so I'm particularly looking forward to meeting her in this well-loved concerto."

Cooper, who has performed with the SSO previously, is also excited to collaborate with the conductor for the first time.

"I greatly look forward to meeting Simone Young with whom I have not yet worked," Cooper says. "She has great integrity and musicianship. I also have many happy memories of playing with the SSO and so look forward to creating a few more."

Young returns to Sydney following extensive work with leading opera houses and orchestras internationally, including a ten year tenure as Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra. Her broad range of work includes conducting Mozart, Puccini, Wagner and Strauss, as well as new productions, world premieres and several German premieres.

Cooper is renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism, and is currently shortlisted for the Gramophone Artist of the Year 2017. Returning to the SSO, she will perform alongside the orchestra in Beethoven & Bruckner: Simone Young Conducts, before her recital at the City Recital Hall on 21 August featuring works by Beethoven, Haydn and Adès.