Praised for her “gorgeous tone and fine solo playing” (Nordjske), cellist Clara Abel enjoys a colorful performing career on both baroque and modern instruments. She holds three degrees from The Juilliard School, where she specialized in chamber music and historical performance, and was a proud recipient of the Kovner Fellowship.
Clara is a vibrant and flexible chamber musician noted for her sensitive ensemble skills and vivid stage presence. Chamber music lies at the heart of her musical experience. She is currently a member of the Tempest String Quartet, and she has trained extensively under the Juilliard, Brentano, Guarneri, and Orion Quartets and held quartet residencies at Kneisel Hall and Norfolk Chamber Music Festivals.
As the baroque concerto competition winner at Juilliard, she performed CPE Bach’s A Major
Cello Concerto with Juilliard415 in Alice Tully Hall and at the Boston Early Music Festival under Paul Agnew. Other recent solo highlights include Elgar’s Cello Concerto with NYO-USA, and her Lincoln Center solo debut conducted by Masaaki Suzuki.
Recent orchestra highlights include joining the New York City Ballet orchestra for the Spring 2024 season, and performing as principal cellist with the New York Classical Players (US Tour) and the NYO All-Stars Orchestra at Carnegie Hall with Yannick Nezet-Seguin and Daniil Trifinov.
Clara delights in performing with early music ensembles such as Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Les Arts Florissants, Teatro Nuovo and Twelfth Night Ensemble, and has toured throughout the US, Germany, France and the Netherlands working under directors such as Masaaki Suzuki, Richard Egarr, William Christie, Paul Agnew, Nicholas McGegan, Jacob Lehmann, Rachel Podger, and Pablo Heras-Casado. She looks forward to her recently announced appointment to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, as well as upcoming projects with Voices of Music, Twelfth Night, and The English Concert (as a 2024 TECA Fellow), as well as a tour of Bolivia to perform at the Chiquitos International Baroque Music Festival.
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