(Credit: Marco Borggreve)

San Diego Opera has announced that Yves Abel will be the company’s new Principal Conductor starting in 2020-21.

The contract is set for three years with the maestro set to conduct a double bill opera in his first year, a French work in 2021-22, and another opera in 2022-23.

“It is a great joy and honor for me to be asked to become Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera,” Abel said in a press release. “My relationship with the company goes back several years, covering operas from bel canto through French Opera to verismo, all of them memorable. It’s been an absolute pleasure collaborating with the international casts of singers, and the ever classy San Diego Symphony and San Diego Opera Chorus. I look forward to working closely with David Bennett, the excellent board, and the devoted people behind the scenes, to bring world class Opera to the people of San Diego!”

The San Diego Opera is gearing up for the 2019-20 season which will include such operas as “Aida,” “Hansel and Gretel,” “Aging Musician,” “The Barber of Seville,” and “The Falling and the Rising.”