HAMBURG, Germany — When the Hamburg State Opera performs its new production of “Das Rheingold” — the first opera in Richard Wagner’s four-part “Ring” cycle — the opera is sung, as it is written, in German. Above the stage are surtitles, also in German. This seems logical enough, but when the opera’s music director and general manager, Simone Young, began using titles with German operas, including Paul Hindemith’s “Mathis der Maler,” the outrage was immediate. As she describes it, the opposition argued, “‘We’re being treated like children! You’re dealing with an educated audience.'” But the innovation provided such clarity that the objections were short-lived. “That lasted about two months,” she said.

Such dogged leadership is par for the course here. Since her appointment in 2005, Ms. Young has been serving the needs of the educated Hamburg audience while also looking for ways to engage, develop, and expand its tastes —at a time when the city is attempting to raise its profile on the classical music circuit. The Australia-born Ms. Young described her efforts in an interview with international journalists on a trip sponsored by Hamburg Marketing GmbH, a city-run outreach program. At the heart of her campaign is a clear goal: “I want to encourage audiences to be actively, rather than passively, listening,” she said.

At times, that approach means acknowledging contemporary realities. One of which is the importance of having operas that make a statement. “The ‘Ring’ has a life of its own, independent of the opera world,” she said. “It’s part of the development of the ‘event’ mentality in the arts.”

The Hamburg State Opera will present all four operas in the cycle by 2010. “Das Rheingold,” directed by Claus Guth, runs until April 9. The premiere of “Die Walküre” will be on October 19, followed by “Siegfried,” opening on October 18, 2009, and “Götterdämmerung” on October 17, 2010. Later in 2010, and again in 2011, the opera will present the full cycle. By that time, Hamburg may be a very different city. The completion of the Elbe Philharmonic Hall, containing a 2,000-seat concert hall, is scheduled for late summer 2010. Designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the structure is the majestic centerpiece of a sweeping redevelopment of the Hamburg harbor, known as HafenCity. The new concert hall will have as its resident orchestra the Hamburg-based NDR Sinfonieorchester, led by chief conductor Christoph von Dohnányi. The Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Ms. Young, will perform eight of its 10 subscription concerts in the new hall.

But if Hamburg is to fill its new concert hall, as well as its old house, the 100-year-old Laeiszhalle, it must have a vigorous, dedicated audience. Ms. Young has a strong base to work with, but she is keen to invigorate and expand it. Hamburg — home to more than $1 million people — has a strong cultural of music attendence. Even so, Ms. Young commiserates with those in her demographic, which she pinpoints as “35- to 50-year-olds who have major time commitments.” For them “going out becomes just one more stress. And we’re competing with home entertainment options,” she said.

Three years ago, she launched the Ostertöne festival, a series of concerts by the Hamburg Philharmonic during Easter weekend. Presented at the Laeiszhalle, the festival is the only (classical music) show in town for those locals who don’t take off for a long weekend of skiing. The festival brings together unlikely pairings of music and ends in an egg hunt for children. Before a concert on Easter Sunday, Ms. Young came onstage to introduce the program: Brahms’s “Rinaldo,” with a 30-member choir, and the French modernist Gérard Grisey’s “Modulations for 33 Musicians.”

With a calm and approachable demeanor, she explained that the two pieces have no connection to each other, except perhaps that they are rarely played. Later, she explained that playing them on the same program is part of a larger goal. By pairing a traditional composer with a more experimental one, she hopes to bring two different crowds to the same concert and to communicate with them both.

To the lovers of Brahms, she said, the message is: “We understand why you love this music, because it is great. But listen to this, and hear what it does to the music you love.”

And to the new music enthusiasts: “Don’t be intellectual snobs. Contemporary music is exciting and we love your love for it. But don’t close your ears.”

Throughout the year, too, she has created a way for children to engage. Each season, three concerts begin with a playful introduction that teaches children about a piece of music, such as “Pictures of an Exhibition” by Modest Mussorgsky. During the second half of the concert, the children join their parents and listen to the music together. At the last concert, 85 children were present. In terms of programming, Ms. Young, who was the first woman to conduct at the Vienna Staatsoper and the Bastille in Paris, sees major new possibilities in the new concert hall being built on the banks of the Elbe river. Her contract, originally set to end in 2010, was extended to 2015 to allow her to plan the inaugural season at the Elbe Philharmonic Hall. And the space — which is considerably larger than the Laeiszhalle — will have an impact on the works she chooses. “At the old house, the stage is very limited. It’s difficult to get in there, and the sound becomes massive very quickly. The Elbe Philharmonic will allow us to play bigger works of the 20th century.”

Not only that, the new location is likely to become part of the circuit for touring orchestras, which also have an impact on the home team. “Touring orchestras tend to play traditional repertory,” she said, which gives the resident orchestra freedom to try more contemporary works.

But while playing premieres in a new hall is exciting, it also presents one of the most challenging goals that Ms. Young has set for herself: “to raise the level of interest in new work outside of its opening season.”

She admits to being somewhat bedeviled by how to bring audiences back to the opera house or the concert hall after a piece has a run of four or five performances. The problem is of “giving it a life in the repertory season. But by then people are already looking to the next new thing.” For a time, the interest in new and event-driven work will bring people to this city. But she’s right to ask: what will bring them back?