Conductor
World excluding Spain
A regular guest with the world’s greatest orchestras and opera companies, Yves Abel is Principal Conductor of San Diego Opera since the season 2020/21. He was Chief Conductor of the Nordwestdeutsche (NWD) Philharmonie Herford from 2015 to 2020 and from 2005 to 2011 he was Principal Guest Conductor at Deutsche Oper Berlin.
In autumn 2017 he won the Rubies Award of Opera Canada, for his outstanding contributions to opera in Canada.
He has already conducted in such theaters as Metropolitan Opera New York, ROH Covent Garden London, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Gran Teatre del Liceu de Barcelona, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Rossini Opera Festival di Pesaro, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, New National Theatre Tokyo.
In concerts he has performed with such important orchestras as Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Orquestra Nacional do Porto, Seoul Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, Sinfonica de Navarra, Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra Haydn di Bolzano, Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini Parma.
As Franco-Canadian, he has a particular affinity with the French repertoire and has won significant critical acclaim for his achievements as founder (in 1988) and Music Director of L’Opéra Francais de New York, with whom he has rediscovered rare French operas and also performed the world premiere of Dusapin’s To be Sung. Also for this activity, in 2009 he was awarded the title “Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” by the French Government.
His wide opera repertoire includes, among others, Le nozze di Figaro (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Così fan tutte (New National Theatre Tokyo), Il turco in Italia (Montecarlo, Lisbona), Ermione (Dallas Opera), L’italiana in Algeri (Vienna State Opera), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Metropolitan Opera, Opera di Roma), La cenerentola (Rossini Opera Festival), Don Pasquale (Deutsche Oper Berlin), I Capuleti e i Montecchi (Bavarian State Opera), Norma (Bilbao), La traviata (ROH London), Il trovatore (Seattle Opera), Simon Boccanegra (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Otello (Oviedo), Faust di Gounod (Teatro San Carlo di Napoli), Werther (Oviedo), Les contes d’Hoffmann (Metropolitan Opera, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse), Carmen (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna State Opera), Madama Butterfly (Liceu de Barcelona, Vienna State Opera, Opera di Roma, San Francisco), La bohème (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Dialogues des Carmélites (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Pelléas et Mélisande (Oviedo), Hänsel und Gretel (Opera National de Paris), L’elisir d’amore (Toronto), Les pêcheurs de perles (Liceu de Barcelona), Hamlet (Deutsche Oper Berlin)
His recordings include Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Werther with Andrea Bocelli (Decca), Madama Butterfly with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Chandos), French arias collections – one with Susan Graham and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Erato) and one with Patricia Petibon and the Orchestra of the Opera National de Lyon (Decca) – and Romantique, romantic arias collection with Elīna Garanča (Deutsche Grammophon).
LATEST PERFORMANCES: Salome in San Diego; Carmen at Royal Opera Stockholm; Mahler’s Symphony n.5 with Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice; Don Giovanni and Madama Butterfly in San Diego; Norma and Roberto Devereux at Teatro della Maestranza in Sevilla; Tosca in Hong Kong; Romeo et Juliette at Savonlinna Opera Festival; Macbeth at Seoul Arts Center; Carmen at Wiener Staatsoper; Otello at Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro; Lucrezia Borgia at Teatro Comunale di Bologna; Romeo et Juliette in San Francisco; Samson et Dalila at Chorégies d’Orange.
FORTHCOMING PROJECTS: La traviata in San Diego; Turandot at Savonlinna Opera Festival; Romeo et Juliette at Canadian Opera Company Toronto; I Pagliacci and Dolores Huerta in San Diego; Carmen at Wiener Staatsoper; Le dialogues des carmélites at Teatro Regio di Torino; La damnation de Faust at Opernhaus Zurich; La fille du regiment at Royal Opera London; Armida at Rossini Opera Festival Pesaro.
