Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Michael Abels

Film Music Talk Michael Abels Princeton Symphony

The @[100043116381457:2048:Princeton Symphony Orchestra] has posted the film music talk I delivered last week at Princeton Public Library. Videographer Briann Dixon did an amazing job making me look and sound great. I gave a whirlwind history of music in film, interleaved with some of my personal observations and experiences, including some especially affectionate memories of a childhood full of monster movies and “Star Wars.” Follow the link if you care to check it out.

Michael Abels, a Pulitzer Prize winner (for his opera “Omar”) and composer of choice for director Jordan Peele (“Get Out,” “Us,” and “Nope”), will be one of the featured composers on this weekend’s concerts of the PSO, at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. Abels’ “More Seasons” is a response to Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons.”

Also on the program will be Prokofiev’s “Classical Symphony” and Beethoven’s “Triple Concerto,” which should be something else in Richardson’s intimate setting. PSO concertmaster Basia Danilow will be joined by principal cellist Alistair MacRae and pianist Steven Beck. The orchestra’s music director, Rossen Milanov, will conduct. To learn more, visit princetonsymphony.org

My personal thanks to the PSO, Princeton Public Library, and Briann!

October 17, 2024
“Omar” Wins Pulitzer Prize for Music

And this year’s Pulitzer Prize for Music goes to… Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels for the opera “Omar.”

“Omar” was inspired by the memoir of an enslaved Muslim man, Omar ibn Said, whose autobiography was written, mostly in Arabic, in 1831. In 1807, Said was captured during a military conflict, taken from his home in Futa Toro (in what is now Senegal), and sold to slavers. He was 37 years-old. He was also from a wealthy family and highly educated.

In the U.S., he had contrasting experiences under a cruel master and one who realized his exceptional nature. It was the latter who encouraged him to write his story down. Said was offered the chance to return home, but doubtful about the fate of his people, he chose to remain in North Carolina.

The opera was commissioned by Spoleto Festival USA. Giddens wrote the libretto and composed the music, and then handed it off to co-composer Abels for him to orchestrate it. According to The New York Times, the score is “a melting pot inspired by bluegrass, hymns, spirituals, and more, with nods to traditions from Africa and Islam. It’s an unforced ideal of American sound: expansive and ever-changing.”

And according to the Pulitzer committee, it’s “an innovative and compelling opera about enslaved people brought to North America from Muslim countries, a musical work that respectfully represents African as well as African American traditions, expanding the language of the operatic form while conveying the humanity of those condemned to bondage.”

Here are some clips and promotional material from the West Coast premiere with LA Opera:

https://www.laopera.org/performances/202223-season/omar/

The composers talk a little bit about it here:

Congratulations to Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels!

May 8, 2023

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