Yves ABEL is considered one of the most exciting conductors of his generation. He has been Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2005, and has conducted in major international opera houses around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera at Covent Garden where he recently made a successful debut, Opéra National de Paris Bastille, La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, El Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Seattle Opera, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, as well as opera companies in Cagliari, Palermo, Cardiff, Leeds, Lisbon, Dallas, Oviedo, Nice, among many others. In addition, he has conducted in many of the world's great opera festivals, including the Glyndebourne Festival, the Santa Fe Opera, the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro.

Equally comfortable in symphonic music, Yves Abel conducted in concerts all over the world, notably with the orchestras of the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse and Orchestre National de Lyon in France; the Toronto, Edmonton and Montreal Symphony Orchestras and the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada; the San Francisco Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s in the United States, Genova, Bologna, Palermo, Naples, Bolzano, Granada, Berlin, Bochum, among many others. Future orchestral concerts include the orchestras of Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Deutsche Oper Orchestra Berlin, RTE Dublin, Orquesta Nacional do Porto, NWD in Herford, Bochum, Bolzano Haydn Orchestra, OSPA in Oviedo Spain, among others.

In New York, he is best known for his enterprising Opéra Français de New York, which rediscovered many excellent forgotten works of the French repertoire, such as Les Deux Journeés and Médée of Cherubini, La Jolie Fille de Perth and Le Docteur Miracle of Bizet, Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict, Gluck's Orphée et Eurydice and Iphigénie en Aulide, Donizetti's La Favorite, many Offenbach operettas, as well as modern works by Milhaud (for which Madeleine Milhaud, the composer's wife came to assist in the premieres) and Poulenc. He also brought Pascal Dusapin's To Be Sung to New York, and Kurt Weill's Marie Galante, both as American premieres. For his services to French music, he is honored with one of the country’s highest cultural honors, the prestigious Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2009.

Yves Abel's future engagements include his returns to London's Royal Opera Covent Garden with La Traviata and La Fille du Régiment; to Vienna Staatsoper for Carmen, Elisir d'Amore, Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia; Opera de Oviedo with Werther, and Seattle with Les Contes d'Hoffman; debuts and new productions of I Capuletti ed i Montecchi for the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and Les Vêpres Siciliennes for the Grand Théâtre de Genève; La Fille du Régiment for San Diego Opera, Giovanna d'Arco in Bilbao; Madama Butterfly in his debut at the New National Theatre of Tokyo. He returns to the Rossini Opera Festival this summer for La Cenerentola and to the Metropolitan Opera twice in the near future.

His discography includes Massenet's Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Thomas Hampson, Werther with Andrea Bocelli, a solo recording French Touch with Patricia Petibon, all on Decca, a solo recording of French light arias with Susan Graham on Erato, Madama Butterfly on Chandos with the Philharmonic Orchestra, and a DVD live performance of Verdi's Oberto on Opus Arte with Orquesta del Principado de Asturias.