KNOWING THE SCORE

Australia, 2022, 89 minutes, Colour.

Simone Young.

Directed by Janine Hosking.

Simone Young is a well-known name in the music world, an international conductor, a woman who broke the glass ceiling in terms of women conductors, an Australian achiever, talent, appreciated worldwide. But, it is said that life was not meant to be easy, and Simone Young’s career path was not always an easy road.

The title is ironically enjoyable, Simone Young and her pitch-perfect ear, her hearing notes and associating colours with them, her detailed knowledge of so many scores and so many operas (Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner, Verdi, Benjamin Britten…, And her appreciation of techniques and sensitivities in performance, are extensively treated in this interesting and entertaining documentary. But, with hard experiences, in Europe, in Australia, especially her sacking in Sydney, in 2001, experience has taught her, knowing the score.

Audiences in 2022-2023, who went to see Cate Blanchett as the conductor, Lydia Tar, found that the world of orchestras and, especially, conductors, was opened up in more detail than they might have imagined. Tar was the fictional version, enormous talent, complicated personal life, demonstration of abilities, exercise of power. To that extent, the life of Simone Young is something of a relief!

By the end of the film, we have a satisfying brief biography of Simone Young, Sydney-born, immigrant parents (Ireland and Croatia), initial abilities with music, associated with conductors of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, especially Stuart Challender, marriage and daughters, studying in Europe, opportunities in Europe, Berlin, Vienna. Then the appointment in Sydney, the sacking, her return to Europe, 10 years in Hamburg reinforcing her reputation, and, finally, the call back to Sydney as conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra – a fulfilment of dreams, at the Sydney Opera House which she had passed countless times in the ferry, her having grown up in Manly.

But, Covid. When audiences watch films set in 2020, there is an automatic stirring of memories, how we all lived the lockdown of that year – and, no opera, Simone spending a lot of time with quite talented knitting, strongly featured during the final credits, and the refurbishment of the concert hall at the Opera House. Which means then that 2021 and 2022 move into moments of triumph, her return to Paris, to Vienna, and, ultimately, the the concert and the inauguration of the new concert hall and its acoustics, Mahler, and with indigenous focus, composer William Barton (Queensland Australian of the Year, 2023), children, singers (and in glimpsing the orchestra, multicultural performers).

And, for opera lovers, the documentary is interspersed with a great number of musical interludes, audiences delighting in listening to the music, but also observing Simone Young and her conducting.

Very interesting interviews throughout the film, including Daniel Barenboim, the ABC Music Show’s Andrew Ford, music critics, opera managers…

So, brief biography, character portrait (praise and critique), musical portrait, and a tribute to a significant international Australian.