Australian conductor Simone Young has had very little time to ''smell the roses'' in the past 30 years, something she is working on rectifying.
For the ''girl from a non-musical family'' from the suburbs of Sydney to be making music with the ''world's greats'' was ''very thrilling and still is'', she said.
''It has been a very exciting 30 years. I've gone from small-scale works in Sydney to Ring Cycles in Vienna and Hamburg and recording. I've conducted all the great orchestras of the world.''
And at only 54 years old she had many years left, she said.
''It's still considered relatively young. I could have another 20 or 30 years doing this. The possibilities are endless.''
So having left her position as intendant of the Hamburg Opera and music director of the city's Philharmonic Orchestra after 10 years, she is refocusing.
She and her husband have resettled in the United Kingdom - near an airport - and with her youngest daughter Lucie having finished high school and about to enter university to study music, her options have widened. Her eldest works in finance in London and has a 6-month-old.
''It's wonderful to be just able to focus on the music.''
Her plans included doing less opera and a lot more symphony concerts, a deliberate choice given her ''massive repertoire'' of operas, she said.
''I stopped counting at 100 and that was a couple years ago. I have no real ambitions left with regard to operas, although there are still singers and opera houses I'll always want to work in.''
Instead, new productions or work in different places interested her, such as a Strauss opera in Tokyo, something she had not done before. However, instead of doing two or three new works a season she would be doing only one.
There were also other concerts in Japan and the United States scheduled, something she had not been able to do while based in Hamburg.
''It's really my choice, when and where I work. It is an incredibly privileged position to be in.''
Her husband Greg Condon was more free to travel with her and she planned to enjoy travelling.
''It's much nicer to do it with someone than by yourself. So when I go to Dallas for the first time, we'll take a week beforehand for a holiday.
''I haven't had that luxury of time to do that before.''
In the past she was lucky if she fitted in a week's holiday a year, but in the coming 12 months she had planned seven weeks off.
''It doesn't sound a lot, but for me it's paradise. I have a granddaughter I want to enjoy. I don't want to have let life run away from me. I've been very, very fortunate in life doing something I love deeply as a profession but there is a cost. That cost is time. Now I'd like to put things a little into balance if I can.''
So when she comes to New Zealand this week, instead of a flying visit, she is bringing her husband and Lucie and will drive from Christchurch to Dunedin through the Waitaki Lakes and Central Otago.
''It'll be extraordinary. We're really excited about it.''
Having learnt piano from a young age, and with her love of languages, it was inevitable Ms Young ended up in opera.
''I was lucky to come across some truly inspirational teachers along the way.''
She attained her first position aged 22, as a rehearsal pianist for Opera Australia, and went on to work with some of the top conductors of the 1980s.
Her first opportunity to conduct came after she had done some amateur conducting with suburban light opera groups and it built on her studies of composing.
''It felt very natural to me. It's just another instrument. A conductor's instrument is the orchestra.''
A scholarship and exchange to Europe followed and her first stint in Germany began in Cologne in 1987.
''I found a lot of recognition there and I was hired basically immediately.''
She ''worked her way up'' to rehearsal pianist and then conducting right across the repertoire.
Then there was a move to Berlin, where she joined the Berlin Opera House and her international career took off with performances in Paris, New York and London.
In 1995 the family returned to the UK and Ms Young travelled ''non-stop'' with opera commitments, including in Australia. From January 2001 to December 2003, she was the artistic director and chief conductor of the Australian Opera in Sydney and Melbourne.
Then in 2005 she was appointed to the prestigious position of intendant of the Hamburg Opera and music director of the city's Philharmonic Orchestra.
While taking on the dual role was not unheard of, it was a ''massive undertaking'' to not only conduct, but essentially take on the roles of chief executive and general manager as well, she said.
''There was no reason not to do it. Conductors have certain advantages in they have direct contact with the artistic personnel, as you are in there performing with them in the evening.''
It did come with some weight, given the company was more than 330 years old and one of the oldest in Europe.
It was also the only independent opera company and it was supported by the citizens of Hamburg through their taxes, with help from private sponsorship.
''It has to compete on every level with Berlin and Munich yet on a much smaller budget. Yet audiences want to see the same artists ... so we had to work hard to make the workplace so attractive, the work ethic so good, that people wanted to come sing with us, perform with us.''
To mark her 10 years at the helm, staff produced a book and flicking through its pages she realised one thing.
''No wonder I'm so exhausted.''
She reels off some amazing statistics of the company's accomplishments in that decade: 50 new productions, every year doing 32 different operas, an orchestra which did an additional 14 concert programmes a year and accompanied the ballet 15 times.
''It's a massively busy company. I've done an average 45 opera performances per year and another half-dozen symphony programmes.''
On top of that workload came lectures, dealing with sponsors and politicians and fundraising.
''It was [an] intense but very satisfying 10 years and we've done some amazing projects.''
Musically there were many accomplishments, including a recording of the original version of Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 and conducting all 10 of Richard Wagner's major works in just three weeks in 2013 for the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth, she said.
In 2009, together with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, she made the town the world's biggest concert hall by conducting 100 musicians at 50 different locations throughout the city from the tower of the St Michaelis Church.
The company also did a lot of contemporary music but that was sometimes a struggle, given it was financially not as rewarding as traditional programmes, she said.
She believed, given the company was publicly funded, it was important to include a broad palette of the operatic repertoire.
''We've done it quite successfully. It was a massive struggle.''
Added to the mix was the financial crisis in 2008, when the ''bottom fell out'' of sponsorship.
''You had to get out there and fight for the money, rejig your planning and relook at everything and make long-term plans.''
There was also the juggle between keeping ticket prices down so performances were accessible to all, and being financially viable.
The support she got from the team around her was ''fantastic'' and enabled her to maintain such an intensive schedule, she said.
''I'm very glad to have left it financially and artistically in good shape. After 10 years it was time to move on.''
She is adamant, despite her workaholic past, that winding down will not be a problem.
''I'm very happy after 10 years to release that responsibility.''
Keeping up with the workload meant paying careful attention to her health and fitness, she said.
''I follow a routine just like sports people.''
Conducting required not only physical fitness but mental strength as well.
''It's very tough on your shoulders and upper back.''
Many of the challenges faced by conductors were similar to those of tennis players, only they built up more slowly, she said.
''It's like any physically demanding profession. You have to work to keep yourself healthy.''
The amount of travelling required also made keeping to routines or joining a gym nearly impossible.
For Ms Young, swimming was the best exercise and she swam as regularly as she could and invested in regular massages.
''I try not to lug around massive suitcases and really look after my arms and shoulders.''
MS YOUNG was looking forward to her trip to New Zealand not only for the rare chance to sight-see but also because of the programme she will be performing.
She and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra will perform Anton Bruckner's Eighth Symphony in Cathedral of Sound.
The orchestra had also added four Wagner tubas to the horn section to perform Bruckner's Symphony No. 8 in C minor.
''It is desert island material, completely heavenly is the only way to describe it. This music picks you up and carries you to a different place, it is emotionally overwhelming.
''It is extraordinary music. It's wonderful to do it again.''
Having conducted the orchestra on a brief trip to Auckland and Wellington to perform Bruckner's Symphony No. 5 in 2012 she felt an affinity with the NZSO.
She had also worked with Latvian violinist Baiba Skride, who will playing a Stradivarius ''ex-Baron Feilitzsch'' violin that was made in 1734 to perform Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto, in the concert.
''What's not to like?''
