Omar (opera)

2022 opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels

This article is about the 2022 opera. For other uses, see Omar (disambiguation).

Omar

Opera by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels

Restored and colorized ambrotype of Omar ibn Said, c. 1850

Librettist| Rhiannon Giddens
Language| English
Based on| the autobiography of Omar ibn Said
Premiere|

May 27, 2022 (2022-05-27)

Spoleto Festival USA

Omar is an American opera, composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, with a libretto by Giddens. It had its world premiere at the Spoleto Festival USA in 2022. It had its West Coast premiere at Los Angeles Opera in October 2022. It was performed at Carolina Performing Arts in February 2023, and had its New England premiere at Boston Lyric Opera in May 2023.

The opera's plot loosely follows the life of Omar ibn Said, and is based on his autobiography A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar ibn Said, written in 1831, mostly in Arabic. It is the only known memoir written by a slave in America in Arabic.[1] The work was translated into English by Ala Alryyes and published by the University of Wisconsin Press in 2011.[2]

Omar won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music.

## Background

[edit]

Omar ibn Said was born and raised in Futa Toro, an Islamic state located in the part of West Africa that is now Senegal. His family was wealthy and he was highly educated as a Muslim scholar. He was captured by slavers in 1807 at the age of 37 and was taken to America to be sold in the Charleston slave market. Initially purchased by a harsh master, he escaped after two years and traveled to Fayetteville, North Carolina. There he was captured and jailed, but ultimately sold to planter James Owen. Owen was impressed by ibn Said's education, since very few slaves even knew how to read and write. Owen attempted to convert him to Christianity and provided him with a Bible and other books. He also urged him to write his memoirs, which he did in 1831. He wrote at least thirteen other Arabic documents, mostly on history and theology. Ibn Said lived until his mid-90s and died in 1864, still enslaved.[3]

## Synopsis

[edit]

The opera, in two acts, follows ibn Said's life loosely, as Giddens maintained that her libretto was only one possible telling of a life about which so much is still unknown. She wrote in the program for the premiere: "Who was Omar? We will never really know. This Omar is merely one of a thousand different possible interpretations of his writings and what we know of his life."[4] Act One contains five scenes. The first shows him in his village along with his mother Fatima, a spiritual matriarch of the village. His brother Abdul warns them that slavers are nearby and urges them to flee, but it is too late; the slavers overrun the village, capturing Omar and killing his mother. Scene two is aboard a slave ship, where several prisoners describe their own situation and pray to survive the voyage. Scene three is set in the Charleston slave market, where Omar meets a slave for sale named Julie. Omar's kufi, a Muslim cap, reminds her of her father, and she retrieves his kufi and keeps it. She is planning to escape and return to a gentler master in Fayetteville, and urges Omar to do the same if he can. He observes an auction where a child is separated from his parents despite the father's pleading. In a vision, Omar's mother tells him to cover for Julie so she can escape. He creates a distraction and she escapes. He is then sold to an abusive master named Johnson. Scene four is on Johnson's plantation, where Omar is sent to pick cotton in the fields. In scene five, he dreams of his mother urging him to escape, which he does, intending to go to Fayetteville.

Act Two also contains five scenes. In the first scene Omar, who was caught, is imprisoned in the Fayetteville County Jail, where he has covered the walls of his cell with Arabic prayers and verses from the Quran. The townspeople are intrigued by him and his writing. The plantation owner Owen is urged by his daughter Eliza to buy Omar. Owen talks to Omar about his background and thinks he might be able to convert him to Christianity. In the second scene, Omar is introduced to the other slaves, including Julie who has returned to the plantation and is impressed that Omar has followed her advice. She gives him back his kufi, singing "My daddy wore a cap like yours."[5] Scene three takes place in a study room that Owen has given to Omar. Owen gives him a Christian Bible written in Arabic. Scene four finds Omar under a tree reading his new Bible and praying to Allah to understand the meaning of his life journey. He recites Psalm 23, reinterpreting it from the point of view of an enslaved Muslim. In scene five Julie urges Omar to write a book. So does the spirit of Fatima, telling him to write about his experiences and his faith. The company joins Omar in a song in praise of Allah.[6]

## Roles

[edit]

Role  | Voice type  | Premiere cast (May 27, 2022)[a]

|
|

Omar  | Tenor  | Jamez McCorkle
Fatima  | Mezzo Soprano  | Cheryse McLeod Lewis
Abdul / Abe  | Baritone  | Michael Redding
Julie  | Soprano  | Laquita Mitchell
Auctioneer / Taylor  | Tenor  | Adam Klein
Katie Ellen / The Caller  | Mezzo Soprano  | Catherine Anne Daniel
Johnson / Owen  | Baritone  | Malcolm MacKenzie
Eliza  | Soprano  | Rebecca Jo Loeb

## Performance history

[edit]

The opera was commissioned in 2019 by the Spoleto Festival USA and Carolina Performing Arts. The commission was given to Rhiannon Giddens, who wrote both the music and the libretto, with Michael Abels as co-composer expanding and orchestrating the music. The premiere, initially planned for 2020, had to be postponed twice due to COVID-19.[7] The opera finally had its world premiere on May 27, 2022, conducted by John Kennedy, as the opening work at that year's Spoleto Festival.[8][9] The production was directed by Kaneza Schaal, with Christopher Myers as the production designer, Amy Rubin as the scenic designer, Lucrecia Birceno and Alejandro Fajardo as lighting designers, Joshua Higgason as projection designer, and April M Hickman and Micheline Russell-Brown as co-costume designers[4] The premiere took place less than a mile from the site of the slave market where Omar ibn Said was sold.[5] Tenor Jamez McCorkle portrayed Omar in the premiere and subsequent productions by Los Angeles Opera in October 2022, Carolina Performing Arts in February 2023, Boston Lyric Opera in May 2023, and San Francisco Opera in November 2023.[10][11][12]

## Reception

[edit]

Joshua Barone of The New York Times described the opera as "(m)oving, joyous and in its final moments intensely spiritual."[8] Anastasia Tsioulcas of NPR described the work as "a thoroughly American opera" and "a broadly American story".[5] Rupa Shenoy, speaking on Morning Edition, said "A new opera brings to light a remarkable, long-buried American story of an enslaved man who wrote his memoirs in Arabic for future generations to read."[13] Reviewing the premiere, James L. Paulk said, "Omar is the most important new work to emerge from Spoleto, at least since the Menotti era. It is an important story, told in a way that is gripping and beautiful."[14] Charles McNulty, theater critic for the Los Angeles Times, summarized the opera by saying "Omar invites audiences to remember the lives of all those whose stories were unwritten by considering the miracle of one who managed to transmit his own. This is painful material but also triumphant, despite the impossibility of a happy ending. Omar lives again, thanks to the unconquerable power of his words, now borne aloft by the music of history."[15] Richard S. Ginell of San Francisco Classical Voice described the Los Angeles production as "a profoundly moving spectacle".[16]

Omar won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music.[17] The Pulitzer committee described the work as "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."[18]

## Notes

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1. ^ Conducted by John Kennedy

## References

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1. ^ Cooper, Michael (June 10, 2019). "Rhiannon Giddens Is Writing an Opera". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 22, 2022. Retrieved February 20, 2023.
2. ^ Said, Oman ibn (July 20, 2011). Alryyes, Ala (ed.). A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar Ibn Said. Translated by Alryyes, Ala. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-24954-0. LCCN 2010044625. OL 25008284M.
3. ^ "Omar ibn Said, b. 1770?". Documenting the American South. Archived from the original on April 18, 2019. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
4. ^ a b "Spoleto Festival USA 2022 Program": p. 20. Spoleto Festival USA.
5. ^ a b c Tsioulcas, Anastasia (June 7, 2022). "The debut of 'Omar,' a thoroughly American opera". NPR. Retrieved February 27, 2023.
6. ^ "Omar Program: page P4, Synopsis". Los Angeles Opera.
7. ^ Hawes, Jennifer Berry (May 27, 2021). "Opera about Omar ibn Said will debut at 2022′s Spoleto Festival USA". Post and Courier. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
8. ^ a b Barone, Joshua (May 30, 2022). "At the Spoleto Festival, Opera Is an Act of Liberation". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2023.
9. ^ "Wells Fargo, Spoleto Festival USA share the story of 'Omar'". Wells Fargo Stories. July 13, 2022. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
10. ^ Cristi, A. A. (December 1, 2022). "Jamez McCorkle Brings His Acclaimed Lead Performance To Boston In Rhiannon Giddens And Michael Abel's OMAR". Broadway World. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
11. ^ Winkler, Matthew (May 11, 2023). "Pulitzer Winner Omar Looks Towards Opera's Future". Boston Musical Intelligencer. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2023.
12. ^ Crawford, Caroline (November 8, 2023). "Review: San Francisco Opera'S Extraordinary 'Omar' A Bold New American Work". SFGate. Archived from the original on November 12, 2023. Retrieved November 11, 2023.
13. ^ Shenoy, Rupa (November 2, 2022). "'Omar': Opera based on the true story of an enslaved man shatters myths". NPR. WBUR. Archived from the original on February 28, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
14. ^ Paulk, James L. (June 3, 2022). "Review: Spoleto Festival debuts the profound and moving new opera 'Omar'". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
15. ^ McNulty, Charles (October 23, 2022). "Commentary: Redemption, writ large, in L.A. Opera's divine 'Omar'". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved February 28, 2023.
16. ^ Ginell, Richard S. (October 25, 2022). "Omar Proves to Be a Profoundly Moving Spectacle at LA Opera". San Francisco Classical Voice. Retrieved March 2, 2023.
17. ^ Barone, Joshua (May 8, 2023). "Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels Win the Pulitzer Prize for Music". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 8, 2023. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
18. ^ "2023 Pulitzer Prizes". Pulitzer.org. Archived from the original on May 11, 2023. Retrieved May 9, 2023.

* v
* t
* e

Pulitzer Prize for Music

1943–1950|

* William Schuman ('43): A Free Song
* Howard Hanson ('44): Symphony No. 4
* Aaron Copland ('45): Appalachian Spring
* Leo Sowerby ('46): The Canticle of the Sun
* Charles Ives ('47): Symphony No. 3
* Walter Piston ('48): Symphony No. 3
* Virgil Thomson ('49): Louisiana Story
* Gian Carlo Menotti ('50): The Consul

1951–1960|

* Douglas Moore ('51): Giants in the Earth
* Gail Kubik ('52): Symphony Concertante
* n.a. ('53)
* Quincy Porter ('54): Concerto Concertante
* Gian Carlo Menotti ('55): The Saint of Bleecker Street
* Ernst Toch ('56): Symphony No. 3
* Norman Dello Joio ('57): Meditations on Ecclesiastes
* Samuel Barber ('58): Vanessa
* John La Montaine ('59): Piano Concerto No. 1
* Elliott Carter ('60): String Quartet No. 2

1961–1970|

* Walter Piston ('61): Symphony No. 7
* Robert Ward ('62): The Crucible
* Samuel Barber ('63): Piano Concerto
* n.a. ('64)
* n.a. ('65)
* Leslie Bassett ('66): Variations for Orchestra
* Leon Kirchner ('67): Quartet No. 3 for strings and electronic tape
* George Crumb ('68): Echoes of Time and the River
* Karel Husa ('69): String Quartet No. 3
* Charles Wuorinen ('70): Time's Encomium

1971–1980|

* Mario Davidovsky ('71): Synchronisms No. 6
* Jacob Druckman ('72): Windows
* Elliott Carter ('73): String Quartet No. 3
* Donald Martino ('74): Notturno
* Dominick Argento ('75): From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
* Ned Rorem ('76): Air Music
* Richard Wernick ('77): Visions of Terror and Wonder
* Michael Colgrass ('78): Deja Vu
* Joseph Schwantner ('79): Aftertones of Infinity
* David Del Tredici ('80): In Memory of a Summer Day

1981–1990|

* n.a. ('81)
* Roger Sessions ('82): Concerto for Orchestra
* Ellen Taaffe Zwilich ('83): Symphony No. 1
* Bernard Rands ('84): Canti del Sole
* Stephen Albert ('85): Symphony No. 1
* George Perle ('86): Wind Quintet No. 4
* John Harbison ('87): The Flight into Egypt
* William Bolcom ('88): Twelve New Etudes for Piano
* Roger Reynolds ('89): Whispers Out of Time
* Mel Powell ('90): Duplicates: A Concerto

1991–2000|

* Shulamit Ran ('91): Symphony
* Wayne Peterson ('92): The Face of the Night, the Heart of the Dark
* Christopher Rouse ('93): Trombone Concerto
* Gunther Schuller ('94): Of Reminiscences and Reflections
* Morton Gould ('95): Stringmusic
* George Walker ('96): Lilacs
* Wynton Marsalis ('97): Blood on the Fields
* Aaron Jay Kernis ('98): String Quartet No. 2
* Melinda Wagner ('99): Concerto for Flute, Strings, and Percussion
* Lewis Spratlan ('00): Life Is a Dream

2001–2010|

* John Corigliano ('01): Symphony No. 2
* Henry Brant ('02): Ice Field
* John Adams ('03): On the Transmigration of Souls
* Paul Moravec ('04): Tempest Fantasy
* Steven Stucky ('05): Second Concerto for Orchestra
* Yehudi Wyner ('06): Chiavi in Mano
* Ornette Coleman ('07): Sound Grammar
* David Lang ('08): The Little Match Girl Passion
* Steve Reich ('09): Double Sextet
* Jennifer Higdon ('10): Violin Concerto

2011–2020|

* Zhou Long ('11): Madame White Snake
* Kevin Puts ('12): Silent Night
* Caroline Shaw ('13): Partita for 8 Voices
* John Luther Adams ('14): Become Ocean
* Julia Wolfe ('15): Anthracite Fields
* Henry Threadgill ('16): In for a Penny, In for a Pound
* Du Yun ('17): Angel's Bone
* Kendrick Lamar ('18): DAMN.
* Ellen Reid ('19): Prism
* Anthony Davis ('20): The Central Park Five

2021–2030|

* Tania León ('21): Stride
* Raven Chacon ('22): Voiceless Mass
* Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels ('23): Omar
* Tyshawn Sorey ('24): Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith)
* Susie Ibarra ('25): Sky Islands

Special
citations|

* v
* t
* e

Pulitzer Prize Special Citations and Awards

Journalism|

* Frank I. Cobb* (1924)
* William O. Dapping (1930)
* Edmonton Journal (1938)
* The New York Times (1941)
* Byron Price (1944)
* St. Louis Post-Dispatch (1947)
* Cyrus L. Sulzberger / Arthur Krock (1951)
* Max Kase / The Kansas City Star (1952)
* The New York Times (1953)
* Walter Lippmann (1958)
* Gannett Newspapers (1964)
* Richard Lee Strout (1978)
* Herb Caen (1996)
* Capital Gazette (2019)
* Ida B. Wells (2020, posthumous)
* Darnella Frazier (2021)

Letters|

* Love Songs by Sara Teasdale (1918)
* Corn Huskers by Carl Sandburg / Old Road to Paradise by Margaret Widdemer (1919)
* Kenneth Roberts (1957)
* The Defeat of the Spanish Armada by Garrett Mattingly (1960)
* American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War (1961)
* George Washington, Vols. I-IV by James Thomas Flexner (1973)
* Roots by Alex Haley (1977)
* E.B. White (1978)
* Theodor Seuss Geisel (1984)
* Art Spiegelman for Maus (1992)
* Edmund S. Morgan (2006)

Arts|

* Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. A special award for Oklahoma! (1944)
* Roger Sessions (1974)
* Scott Joplin (1976)
* Milton Babbitt (1982)
* William Schuman (1985)
* George Gershwin (1998)
* Duke Ellington (1999)
* Thelonious Monk (2006)
* Ray Bradbury (2007)
* Bob Dylan (2008)
* Hank Williams (2010)
* Aretha Franklin (2019)

Service|

* William Allen White* (1944)
* Columbia University and the Graduate School of Journalism (1947)
* Frank D. Fackenthal (1948)
* John Hohenberg (1976)
* Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. (1985)

* indicates award given to widow in year after his death

* Complete list
* (1943–1950)
* (1951–1960)
* (1961–1970)
* (1971–1980)
* (1981–1990)
* (1991–2000)
* (2001–2010)
* (2011–2020)
* (Citations)

* v
* t
* e

Rhiannon Giddens

Albums|

* We Rise (EP, 2014)
* Tomorrow Is My Turn (2015)
* Factory Girl (EP, 2015)
* Live at Jazzfest 2016 (2016)
* Freedom Highway (2017)
* Live at Jazzfest 2017 (2017)
* There Is No Other (with Francesco Turrisi, 2019)
* They're Calling Me Home (with Francesco Turrisi, 2021)
* You're the One (2023)

Carolina Chocolate Drops|

* Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind (2006)
* The Great Debaters (2007)
* Heritage (2008)
* Carolina Chocolate Drops & Joe Thompson (2009)
* Genuine Negro Jig (2010)
* Carolina Chocolate Drops/Luminescent Orchestrii (2011)
* Leaving Eden (2012)

Other works|

* Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (2014)
* Songs of Our Native Daughters (2019)
* Omar (2022)

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* Opera

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