Evans sits down with David Charles Abell, his friend for over thirty-five years, to discuss their overlapping careers, shared experiences living in London, and frequent collaborations. They discuss David’s unusual path into the world of conducting, his conducting debut, and how his career has been helped by avoiding some advice he was once given. His best career advice is to “think of all music as storytelling.”
Show notes:
Abell was raised in the Philadelphia and Chicago areas.
David sang in the 1971 world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the Berkshire Boy Choir.
Abell enrolled at Yale University, where his teachers included John Mauceri and Rob Kapilow. He studied with Nadia Boulanger and Robert D. Levin at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau before returning to Yale to complete his B.A. in 1981.
Abell made his professional debut conducting Bernstein's Mass at Berlin's Deutschlandhalle in 1982.
Abell mentions the following three operas by Gaetano Donizetti that were his introduction to opera: La Favorite, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Lucie de Lammermoor.
The Makropulos Affair is a Czech opera with music and libretto by Leoš Janáček.
Don Giovanni is an opera by Mozart.
Mefistofele is the only completed opera with music by the Italian composer-librettist Arrigo Boito
The Symphony No. 2 in D-flat major was written by Howard Hanson on commission from Serge Koussevitsky for the 50th anniversary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1930.
The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. Members were: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.
Giacomo Puccini was an Italian opera composer who has been called "the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi".
Oscar Hammerstein was an American librettist, theatrical producer, and (usually uncredited) theatre director of musicals for almost 40 years.
The Marriage of Figaro is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Mozart, with an Italian libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte.
Evans mentions the following schools as notable music schools: Juilliard School, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, University of Michigan School of Music.
Abell continued his postgraduate training from 1983 to 1985 at the Juilliard School, under Jorge Mester and Sixten Ehrling.
Eroica Symphony, byname of Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, is a symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, known as the Eroica Symphony for its supposed heroic nature.
Natalia Makarova is a Soviet-Russian-born prima ballerina and choreographer.
Abell deputized at short notice for John Mauceri conducting Britten's The Turn of the Screw at Washington National Opera.
On Your Toes is a musical with a book by Richard Rodgers, George Abbott, and Lorenz Hart.
Gian Carlo Menotti gave David the advice to “never conduct Broadway. Never do it you will regret it.”
Les Misérables, colloquially known in English-speaking countries as Les Mis is a musical adapted from French poet and novelist Victor Hugo's 1862 novel of the same name by Claude Schönberg.
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by the American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin.
Miss Saigon is a musical by Schönberg.
Abell subsequently conducted the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena.
Arturo Toscanini was an Italian conductor.
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music.
Rhapsody in Blue is a musical composed by George Gershwin.
Trevor Nunn is an English theatre director.
Harold Prince was an American theatrical producer and director associated with many of the best-known Broadway musical productions of the 20th century.
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
The Voice of Firestone is a long-running radio and television program of classical music.
Leontyne Price is an American soprano.
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer.
Dorothy Kirsten was an American operatic soprano.
John Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Williams has composed for many critically acclaimed and popular movies, including the Star Wars series, Jaws, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and the first three Harry Potter films.
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks is a tone poem written in 1894–95 by Strauss.
Along with pianist and musicologist Seann Alderking, Abell edited a complete edition of Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, published in 2014.
The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States.
The New York Public Library is a public library system in New York City.
Gioachino Rossini was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music.
Phillip Gossett was an American musicologist and historian, and Robert W. Reneker Distinguished Service Professor of Music at the University of Chicago.
Tancredi is a melodramma eroico in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi
Un ballo in maschera (A Masked Ball) is an 1859 opera by Verdi.
Powel Crosley Jr. was an American inventor, industrialist, and entrepreneur. He was also a pioneer in radio broadcasting, and a former owner of the Cincinnati Reds major league baseball team.
Alfred Drake was an American actor and singer.
Robert Russell Bennett was an American composer and arranger, best known for his orchestration of many well-known Broadway and Hollywood musicals by other composers such as Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter, and Richard Rodgers.
Don Walker is an Australian musician, songwriter and author.
Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period.
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Handel.
Francesca Zambello is an American opera and theatre director. She serves as director of Glimmerglass Festival and the Washington National Opera.
Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester.
Peter Morris is an American playwright, television writer and critic, best known for his work in British theatre.
"Something's Gotta Give" is a song that was written for and first performed by Fred Astaire in the 1955 musical film Daddy Long Legs.
"A Wonderful Guy" is a show tune from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific.
Abell cites Evans Mirageas as one of his greatest mentors.
Abell cites his niece’s podcast, The Bright Sessions, as one of his current favorites.
Abell mentions Dark Sky as one of his favorite apps
Carousel is the second musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Alfred “Alfie” Boe is an English tenor and actor, notably performing in musical theatre.