Yves Abel
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.
He has 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 many great orchestras: Copenhagen Phil, Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, Toronto and Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Seoul Philharmonic, and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, to name a few.
As Franco-Canadian, he has a particular affinity with the French repertoire. He founded (in 1988) and was Music Director of L'Opéra Francais de New York, with whom he rediscovered rare French operas and also performed the world premiere of Dusapin’s To be Sung. 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), 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), La traviata (ROH London), Il trovatore (Seattle Opera), Simon Boccanegra (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Otello (Oviedo), Faust (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), Hänsel und Gretel (Opera National de Paris), L’elisir d’amore (Toronto), Les pêcheurs de perles (Liceu de Barcelona), and Hamlet (Deutsche Oper Berlin).
His recordings include Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Werther with Andrea Bocelli (Decca), Madama Butterfly with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Chandos), and Romantique, a collection of romantic arias, with Elīna Garanča (Deutsche Grammophon).
Carmen marks Yves Abel’s debut at the Royal Swedish Opera.