Following the acclaimed new production of György Kurtág’s Fin de partie at the Vienna State Opera, she returned in 2025 to lead the revival. She then conducts Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin and completes David McVicar’s new Der Ring des Nibelungen production at La Scala in Milan, conducting Götterdämmerung and the full cycle.

Young also leaves a strong mark in the symphonic repertoire and conducts in the 2025/26 season the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, and Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. During a North American tour, she leads the National Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

From 2005 to 2015, she was Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera and General Music Director of the Hamburg Philharmonic, where she conducted an exceptionally broad repertoire ranging from Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Wagner, and Richard Strauss to Hindemith, Britten, and Henze, as well as numerous world and national premieres. Earlier positions include Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (1998–2002) and Artistic Director of Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne (2001–03).

From the beginning of her career, Young gained international recognition as a leading interpreter of Wagner and Strauss. She conducted full Ring cycles at the Vienna State Opera, the Berlin State Opera, and a new production at the Hamburg State Opera. Her engagements have also taken her to the world’s most prestigious houses, including the Opéra National de Paris; Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Metropolitan Opera in New York; Berlin State Opera; Bavarian State Opera; Semperoper Dresden; Zurich Opera; and, in her 2023 debut, to La Scala with a new production of Peter Grimes (directed by Robert Carsen).

She has conducted leading orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, London Philharmonic Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre de Paris, Filarmonica della Scala, Orchestre National de France, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, and Oslo Philharmonic, and various orchestras in Australia.

Young is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards and an honorary doctorate from the universities of Sydney and Melbourne and is a Member of the Order of Australia and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in France. She has also been awarded the Goethe Medal and the Brahms Prize of Schleswig-Holstein. In April 2022, she was appointed an honorary member of the Vienna State Opera.

Numerous CD and DVD recordings document Simone Young’s artistic achievements.