The Bayreuth Festival has announced a conductor change for its “Ring des Nibelungen.”

The company said, “Festival Director Prof. Katharina Wagner has succeeded in recruiting Simone Young to conduct the ‘Ring des Nibelungen,’ as Philippe Jordan had to cancel the conducting of the Bayreuth Ring, which he had been looking forward to with great pleasure, much to his regret. Other commitments have now unfortunately made it impossible for him to conduct the Ring. Simone Young will be the first female conductor to conduct the tetralogy in Bayreuth. Her engagement has long been a particular concern of the Artistic Director, but other commitments had unfortunately not yet made an earlier collaboration possible.”

Young joins a roster of conductors for the 2024 season that includes Oksana Lyniv and Nathalie Stutzmann. It will mark the first time that there will be more female conductors than male conductors at the Bayreuth Festival for the first time. Semyon Bychkov and Pablo Heras-Casado will also conduct the production.

Young is Chief Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and has previously been Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Principal Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic, Artistic Director of Opera Australia, and Artistic Director of the Hamburg State Opera.