Yves Abel is one of the world’s most versatile conductors, equally comfortable in opera and concert with a repertoire ranging from Baroque to contemporary music.

As Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera, a post he has held since 2020, he will conducts ‘Rigoletto’ and ‘Susanna’ there in the 2026/27 season.

Other highlights of the 2026/27 season include 8  performances of  Massenet ‘Manon’ at the Metropolitan Opera, New York including an internationally broadcast MetHD on April 3, 2027. He also returns to Opéra Nice for ‘Pagliacci’ and a Beethoven Concert with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Nice, concerts (Beethoven & Liszt) in Cagliari, Italy, and conducts a new production of ‘Tancredi’ at the Rossini Opera Pesaro Festival.

A frequent guest at the world’s great opera houses, he regularly conducts at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala di Milano, the Opera National de Paris, the Vienna Staatsoper, the San Francisco Opera, London’s Royal Opera and the Gran Teatre del Liceu, to name a few.

Previous posts include Chief Conductor of Germany’s Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie from 2015-2021, and Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 2005-2013.

Season 2026 – 2027 Announced!

See the calendar listing… (and sidebar adjacent here)

In concert, he has conducted major symphony orchestras worldwide in cities which include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin, Toronto, Montreal, San Francisco, Lyon, Dublin, Liverpool, New York, Genova, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Porto, Copenhagen, among many others.

His recordings include a CD of Ravel and Bizet symphonic works with the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Massenet’s Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, Massenet’s Werther with Andrea Bocelli, a disk of French arias with Elina Garança, and another French disc with Patricia Petitbon, plus a recording of Madama Butterfly on Chandon in its English language series. He also has conducted a disc of Italian arias with Maria Luigia Borsi.

Founder and Music Director of L’Opéra Français de New York, he breathed new life into rarities of the French opera repertoire including Cherubini, Rameau, Gluck, Donizetti, Bizet, Saint-Saëns, Offenbach as well as conducting ‘modern’ operas including those by Milhaud, Poulenc and Dusapin.

In 2009, he was awarded the title of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

He continues on as Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera, which has been extended recently to 2032.