Kenneth Young is one of New Zealand’s leading conductors. He has established himself as a passionate and skilled interpreter of the Romantic and 20th-Century repertoire, and twenty years of practical orchestral playing have given him a specialised rapport with his colleagues. Himself a composer, he has a particular interest in post-Romantic repertoire, and he has received recognition for his recordings of New Zealand orchestral music. 

Young took up the position of Principal Tuba with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra in 1976, and his experience as a conductor with the NZSO dates from 1985, culminating in his appointment as the orchestra’s Conductor-in-Residence early in 1993. He has worked with all the regional orchestras throughout New Zealand, and his engagements with the NZSO and the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra have included highly acclaimed CD recordings of the orchestral works of Edwin Carr and Gareth Farr, and opera excerpts with the New Zealand tenor Keith Lewis. He has also regularly conducted seasons with the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Outside New Zealand, Young has worked with the Queensland Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, the City of Osaka Sinfonia and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

In addition to his work as a performer and conductor, Young has become one of New Zealand’s leading composers. Various commissions from Chamber Music New Zealand, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the International Festival of the Arts and Radio New Zealand have been performed nationwide and also in the United States, Europe and Australia.