The Cape Symphony is hosting an upcoming concert, “A New Era,” conducted by David Charles Abell.
The performance will take place at the Barnstable Performing Arts Center on Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. and on Sept. 21 at 3 p.m.
Abell’s experience with classical music in high school led him to the world of conducting.
“I played the viola in the orchestra at my high school when I was a kid,” Abell said. “We were rehearsing for a concert at a neighboring school. The morning of that concert, the head of the music department at my high school called me and said the conductor was sick.”
The phone call, which came when Abell was 15, marked a turning point.
“They asked if I could conduct instead, and I had never conducted an orchestra in my life,” he said. “But I said, ‘Absolutely I can.’ That afternoon I conducted the show. It all went well, and although it was a long time ago, I still remember one of the pieces — the Howard Hanson Second Symphony, which is still one of my favorites. The experience made me want to be a conductor.”
Leonard Bernstein also played a major role in Abell’s musical development through mentorship.
“I was very lucky to meet Leonard Bernstein for the first time when I was 13 years old,” Abell said.
At the time, Abell was singing in a boys' choir that was invited to perform Bernstein’s piece Mass, which opened the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., in 1971.
“Mass was a piece that Bernstein had written in memory of John F. Kennedy,” Abell said.
“It wasn’t a mass you could use in a church. It was a dramatic piece about a young man with a guitar who has spiritual ideas and sings and gathers people around him. The main demand of his followers at the end of Mass is ‘Give us peace.’”
The performance took place during the Vietnam War era.
“I was aware of it at age 13. I thought it was an amazing idea to write a piece like this—one that told a story like that during that time,” he said. “I sang on the recording of Mass and then went back to my life and finished high school.”
Another key influence in Abell’s musical journey was conductor John Mauceri, who also worked closely with Bernstein.
“When I was studying at Yale University, I was taught by conducting teacher John Mauceri,” Abell said. “He is a diverse conductor who has done opera, classical music and musical theater. My career has followed that same trajectory.”
Mauceri reintroduced Abell to Bernstein when Abell was 22.
“Mauceri was working with Bernstein. At the time, I had some skills with music editing,” he said. “Bernstein asked me to help edit some of his music—including Mass, which is the piece I sang when I was 13. Later, I studied with Lenny in Los Angeles.”
Abell described Bernstein as a powerful creative force.
“He was just the most generous person you could possibly imagine,” Abell said. “He was a great genius, of course. Not only was he a musical genius, but he was brilliant at wordplay. And if you had dinner with him, you would have to play a game of anagrams with him—which is terrifying for someone like me. He was so inspiring to be around. His approach to music was all-embracing.”
Bernstein was widely known as a composer, pianist and educator.
“I certainly have tried to model myself after him as best I could,” Abell said.
Now a conductor with an international career, Abell is leading the Cape Symphony’s upcoming concert, A New Era.
“The concert includes the Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto with an extraordinary 11-year-old soloist named Sofia Hernandez Williams,” he said. “I rehearsed with her last week, and she is a phenomenon. Both of her parents are musicians. I think the audience is going to love hearing this child prodigy play one of the great cello concertos.”
In the second half of the concert, the symphony will perform Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
“This is a special piece for me. I first got to know it when I was at Interlochen music camp in Michigan,” Abell said. “I was playing the viola in the World Youth Symphony there. Viola is a great instrument for someone who wants to be a conductor because you are in the middle of things. The violins are above you and the cellos and basses below you. So, you have to listen very carefully to glue everything together.”
Brahms took 21 years to complete the symphony.
“It starts in C minor in emotional turmoil and ends in C major in serenity and triumph,” Abell said. “Every time I conduct this piece, I am astonished at that wonderful feeling you get when that melody first starts.” Abell encouraged newcomers and longtime classical fans alike to attend.
“I would highly encourage those who haven’t heard an orchestra live to come to this concert,” he said. “You won’t regret coming.”
For more information about the Cape Symphony’s concert A New Era, visit the Cape Symphony website.
