We’re thrilled to share the news that cellists Clara Abel and Eva Lymenstull have won recent auditions for membership in the orchestra. Join us in welcoming these incredible musicians to the Philharmonia family!
Clara Abel
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.
Clara delights in performing with early music ensembles such as 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 upcoming projects with Voices of Music, Twelfth Night, and The English Concert as a 2024 TECA Fellow, and she could not be happier to be joining Philharmonia Baroque’s cello section this year!
Eva Lymenstull
Los Angeles-based baroque cellist and violist da gamba Eva Lymenstull enjoys a diverse career that has taken her across North America and Europe as a soloist, chamber musician, continuo player and orchestral musician. She has performed as concerto soloist and principal cellist with the Lyra Baroque Orchestra, guest principal cellist of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, and Musica Angelica, and has also appeared with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Voices of Music, Tesserae, the LA Master Chorale, Bach Collegium San Diego, the Australian Haydn Ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and Holland Baroque.
A winner of the Voices of Music Bach Competition, she has performed at the Carmel Bach, Whidbey Island, and Pacific Baroque Festivals, and is a frequent performer on concert series throughout the US.
With performance and research interests ranging from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, Eva is a founding member of the viol ensemble Artifex Consort as well as the Arborea Piano Trio, and her recent recordings can be heard on the Passacaille, Brilliant Classics, and Violet Ear labels. Eva teaches baroque cello and viola da gamba as a guest artist in residence at the University of Michigan, serves on the faculty of the San Francisco Early Music Society Baroque Workshop, and has given masterclasses at Michigan State, McGill, USC, University of Northern Colorado, and Interlochen Arts Academy. She holds degrees from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Rice University, and University of Michigan, and a doctorate in historical performance practice from Case Western Reserve University.
