Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
Director: Janine Hosking, Sharmill Films.
Internationally recognised, Australian Simone Young, the chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, is brilliant.
Knowing the Score is a biopic of someone who inspires, having made it to the top in a man’s world, wielding her wit, determination, sense of humour and baton.
New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Simone has conquered them all in the most male dominated of professions, conducting opera and classical music. The girl from Manly beach, has many ‘firsts’ to her name.
The music documentary was motivated by Simone‘s planned return to Australia for
her appointment with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 2022. Knowing the Score catches the build up to, and includes Simone‘s first performance at the reopening of the Sydney Opera House. Emerging from the shadow of COVID-19, the Concert Hall reopens after two years for major restoration with a grand event, resonant performance of The Mahler 2 – Resurrection Symphony.
A present-day narrative plays out through observational sequences of Simone at work and away from the podium. It’s a fascinating insight.
It features footage of Simone with all the great orchestras of the world. These include the Vienna Philharmonic — where she was the first woman to ever conduct the orchestra in 1993, the Berlin Philharmonic, Paris Opera Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic — whose chief conductor Leonard Bernstein inspired the 13-year-old to become a conductor upon her first visit to the Sydney Opera House. The film reveals performance footage of Simone creating sublime music with the orchestra as her instrument.
Simone is a compelling character, joined by a cast of bright music makers. This film allows us to become engaging witnesses to her life and career, recording the highs and lows. It gets up-close and personal with a woman who has broken many glass ceilings within the world of classical music.
- Knowing the Score is in cinemas on 16 February
