[5][6] In addition to maintaining an active international opera career, Abell has worked to restore clarity to musical scores with poorly preserved source materials.

[7] Born in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Abell was raised in the Philadelphia and Chicago areas, studying viola, piano, organ, trumpet and voice.

He continued his postgraduate training from 1983 to 1985 at the Juilliard School under Jorge Mester and Sixten Ehrling Abell made his professional debut conducting Bernstein's Mass at Berlin's Deutschlandhalle in 1982.

The driving force behind Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday celebration at the 2010 BBC Proms,[8] Abell subsequently conducted the 25th anniversary concert of Les Misérables at the O2 Arena, which has been seen worldwide on television and released on DVD.

[11][12] Between 2011 and 2014, he conducted the French premieres of four Sondheim musicals: Follies at the Opéra de Toulon, Sweeney Todd[13][14] and Sunday in the Park with George[15] and Into the Woods[16] at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.

He has appeared twice at English National Opera, conducting Sweeney Todd with Bryn Terfel and Emma Thompson in 2015 and Carousel with Alfie Boe and Katherine Jenkins in 2017.

Abell has helped restore clarity to musical theatre scores affected by accretions of revival productions and poorly preserved source materials, notably West Side Story.