David Charles Abell is an American conductor celebrated for performances and recordings of major operas and musical theatre productions. He has conducted most of the top orchestras in the United Kingdom such as the London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, City of Birmingham Symphony, The Hallé and Royal Scottish National. Most notably, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic in the tenth anniversary concert of the show 'Les Misérables', the 80th birthday celebration of composer Stephen Sondheim at the BBC Proms in 2010 and the 25th anniversary of 'Les Misérables' at the O2 Arena. He was music director of the West End production of 'Love Never Dies', Andrew Lloyd Webber's sequel to 'Phantom of the Opera' and he was conductor when the Sondheim musicals 'Follies', 'Sweeney Todd', 'Sunday in the Park With George' and 'Into the Woods' which debuted in France.
Born in North Carolina, Abell grew up in Philadelphia and Chicago where he learned to sing and play the piano, viola, organ and trumpet as a child. He was in the Berkshire Boys Choir that performed Leonard Bernstein's 'Mass' when it was introduced at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971. He studied at Yale, American Conservatory, Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute summer school and at Juilliard and worked with Bernstein on assorted projects in the 1980s. He conducted his first concert in Berlin in 1982 and went on to conduct operas with Washington National Opera, New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera.
After relocating to the UK in 1996, he conducted around the country and became a regular at the BBC Proms. He was the conductor at the annual Laurence Olivier Awards for four years and in 2015 he conducted the English National Opera in a production of 'Sweeney Todd' with Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson. In 2017 he conducted 'Carousel' with Alfie Boe and Katharine Jenkins. He also is a regular conductor of the Philly Pops in America and has conducted the Boston Pops. His recordings include albums that feature 'Les Misérables', 'The Little Prince', 'Man of La Mancha', 'La Bohème' and 'Miss Saigon'. His 2018 schedule included performances of 'War Horse: The Story in Concert' with the BBC Concert Orchestra in Coventry Cathedral, 'Welcome to Broadway' with the Orchestre National d'Île-de-France with singers Kate Bombault and Julien Salvia, and 'West Side Story' at the Glimmerglass Festival in America.
