KNOWING THE SCORE
****
Director: Janine Hosking
Principal cast:
Simone Young
Craig Whitehead
Deborah Borda
Norman Lebrecht
Bryn Terfel
Greg Condon
Country: Australia
Classification: PG
Runtime: 90 mins.
Australian release date: 16 February 2023.
Experienced documentarian Janine Hosking’s latest work, Knowing the Score, is a balanced observation of the career of the acclaimed Australian conductor Simone Young. The documentary’s executive producer is Cate Blanchett (which immediately makes one think of the recent release Tár although, in this case, the woman at the heart of the film is real), and the producer is Margie Bryant, who directed a 1995 documentary, The Young One, about Young’s early career. Knowing the Score looks back at Young’s life and work as she prepared to take up her role as the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2022.
Originally from Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches, Young trained at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and began conducting opera at the Sydney Opera House in 1985, where one of her mentors was Stuart Challender, and she became the first woman to be appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia the following year. It was one of many ‘firsts’ to come. Her career really flourished in Europe where she resided for some years, becoming the first female conductor of the Vienna State Opera in 1993 and the first woman to conduct the Hamburg State Opera in 1996. She subsequently performed in all the great opera houses and concert halls of the world before returning to Sydney in 2001 to take up the position of chief conductor of Opera Australia. Infamously, however, her contract wasn’t renewed after two years and she returned to Europe where her career continued to advance from strength to strength. Young eventually returned to Australia last year to take on the role of chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, another ‘first’ for a female. Judging by the ecstatic reaction to her conducting Maher’s 2nd Symphony, ‘The Resurrection Symphony’, at the reopening of the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House late last year (which we see in the film), her treatment in her home country will be considerably better this time around.
Simone Young is an engaging person and, in her interviews, she openly voices her opinions with a sense of humour; she is uniquely self-effacing for someone at the top of a career that has traditionally been dominated by men. “She’s not a showboat,” declares Deborah Borda, CEO of the New York Philharmonic, and British music critic Norman Lebrecht describes her as “unassuming” and “down to earth,” which is surprising given the number of glass ceilings she’s shattered. She could be forgiven if she was a little arrogant after all she has achieved. Young herself says, “I will talk about the woman thing, but only up to a certain point. I feel it diminishes me. I am not a woman conductor. I am a conductor.” She adds, “What does being a woman have to do with conducting? My tits don’t get in the way.”
Knowing the Score is cleverly constructed and builds to a satisfying conclusion, so it’s not just for lovers of classical music. It features a wealth of archival footage, interviews with many famous people (Bryn Terfel, Placido Domingo, and more) who have worked with Young in the opera houses and orchestras of Europe and the USA and makes good use of animation to enliven some of the visuals. Now in her sixties, Young is a fascinating subject for a biopic. She talks clearly about her love of music and incisively about her work, explaining that, “The role of the conductor is probably one of the least understood jobs, activities, in the arts world. I mean you can see what a singer does, you see what a violinist does; what is the conductor doing? It’s one of those things that when children pretend to conduct, they’ll be playing music and they’ll be conducting along with the music, but that’s not what a conductor does. You’re not actually conducting what you’re hearing; you’re instigating what everybody else is about to hear.” Well said, maestro.
Principal cast:
Simone Young
Craig Whitehead
Deborah Borda
Norman Lebrecht
Bryn Terfel
Greg Condon
Country: Australia
Classification: PG
Runtime: 90 mins.
Australian release date: 16 February 2023.
Experienced documentarian Janine Hosking’s latest work, Knowing the Score, is a balanced observation of the career of the acclaimed Australian conductor Simone Young. The documentary’s executive producer is Cate Blanchett (which immediately makes one think of the recent release Tár although, in this case, the woman at the heart of the film is real), and the producer is Margie Bryant, who directed a 1995 documentary, The Young One, about Young’s early career. Knowing the Score looks back at Young’s life and work as she prepared to take up her role as the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2022.
Originally from Manly, on Sydney’s northern beaches, Young trained at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and began conducting opera at the Sydney Opera House in 1985, where one of her mentors was Stuart Challender, and she became the first woman to be appointed a resident conductor with Opera Australia the following year. It was one of many ‘firsts’ to come. Her career really flourished in Europe where she resided for some years, becoming the first female conductor of the Vienna State Opera in 1993 and the first woman to conduct the Hamburg State Opera in 1996. She subsequently performed in all the great opera houses and concert halls of the world before returning to Sydney in 2001 to take up the position of chief conductor of Opera Australia. Infamously, however, her contract wasn’t renewed after two years and she returned to Europe where her career continued to advance from strength to strength. Young eventually returned to Australia last year to take on the role of chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, another ‘first’ for a female. Judging by the ecstatic reaction to her conducting Maher’s 2nd Symphony, ‘The Resurrection Symphony’, at the reopening of the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House late last year (which we see in the film), her treatment in her home country will be considerably better this time around.
Simone Young is an engaging person and, in her interviews, she openly voices her opinions with a sense of humour; she is uniquely self-effacing for someone at the top of a career that has traditionally been dominated by men. “She’s not a showboat,” declares Deborah Borda, CEO of the New York Philharmonic, and British music critic Norman Lebrecht describes her as “unassuming” and “down to earth,” which is surprising given the number of glass ceilings she’s shattered. She could be forgiven if she was a little arrogant after all she has achieved. Young herself says, “I will talk about the woman thing, but only up to a certain point. I feel it diminishes me. I am not a woman conductor. I am a conductor.” She adds, “What does being a woman have to do with conducting? My tits don’t get in the way.”
Knowing the Score is cleverly constructed and builds to a satisfying conclusion, so it’s not just for lovers of classical music. It features a wealth of archival footage, interviews with many famous people (Bryn Terfel, Placido Domingo, and more) who have worked with Young in the opera houses and orchestras of Europe and the USA and makes good use of animation to enliven some of the visuals. Now in her sixties, Young is a fascinating subject for a biopic. She talks clearly about her love of music and incisively about her work, explaining that, “The role of the conductor is probably one of the least understood jobs, activities, in the arts world. I mean you can see what a singer does, you see what a violinist does; what is the conductor doing? It’s one of those things that when children pretend to conduct, they’ll be playing music and they’ll be conducting along with the music, but that’s not what a conductor does. You’re not actually conducting what you’re hearing; you’re instigating what everybody else is about to hear.” Well said, maestro.