News
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New Jersey Symphony Performs Michael Abels’ Delights and Dances!
On May 16, 17 & 18 the New Jersey Symphony will perform Delights and Dances, the imaginative, bluesy work for solo string quartet and string orchestra by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels. Xian Zhang, the GRAMMY and Emmy Award winning music director of the New Jersey Symphony, conducts the program, which also features the music…
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Michael Abels – The Art of Storytelling
On Sunday, March 16, The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra brought the beloved stories of Frederick’s Fables to life in conjunction with the Milwaukee Public Library. Combining the music of composer Michael Abels, the words and artwork of children’s author and illustrator Leo Lionni, and the dramatic contributions of Milwaukee’s own First Stage using multiple art forms,…
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‘Omar’s Journey’ Presented by the Quad City Symphony Orchestra
On February 1 and 2, the concert opera adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning work by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels will be presented by The Quad City Symphony Orchestra in a landmark performance. Titled “Omar’s Journey,” it shares the story of Omar Ibn Said from his freedom in West Africa to enslavement in South Carolina.…
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Carnegie Hall Presents the NYC Premiere of Michael Abels’ Guitar Concerto, “Borders”
On October 30, Carnegie Hall presented the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) in The New Virtuoso: Borders, led by Mei-Ann Chen in Zankel Hall. The program included works that use a new kind of virtuosity to shed light on the effect of political and ecological borders, in addition to featuring soloists that are virtuosos on their instruments, uncovering new technical territory and thereby innovating compositionally as…
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Abels: Unbound – Powerful, Striking and Inspiring
“Michael Abels’ piece Unbound is so powerful, striking and inspiring.” Film music producer Robert Townson introduces us to Abels’ newest orchestral work, which premieres on June 14, 2024. Leonard Slatkin conducts the Los Angeles Film Orchestra’s performance at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The four-minute work is one of several new pieces on a program called…
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Michael Abels: A Great Privilege
“It’s a great privilege to bring Omar to San Francisco.” And so notes Matthew Shilvock, General Director of the San Francisco Opera, on the eve of the opera company’s November 5, 2023 performance of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels – and fellow Pulitzer Prize-winning co-composer/librettist Rhiannon Giddens’ – opera, Omar. The work was commissioned by…
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Abels: Omar wins The Pulitzer!
Congratulations to co-composers Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels on being awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Music for their first opera Omar. The Pulitzer Prize Citation reads: “Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels. Premiered on May 27, 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., an innovative and compelling opera about the enslaved…
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Abels: Omar goes to Boston
“Boston Lyric Opera (BLO) has been eager for New England audiences to encounter Omar since we became a partner in creating this extraordinary new opera.” – Bradley Vernatter On the eve of the BLO’s New England premiere of co-composers Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ work Omar, General Director & CEO Bradley Vernatter shares some thoughts…
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Abels: Omar in LA – Director’s Cut
Welcome back to our short series leading up to the Los Angeles Opera’s West Coast premiere of Michael Abels’ opera Omar, co-composed with Grammy winning-artist and librettist Rhiannon Giddens. The opera tells the story of historical figure Omar Ibn Said, who was an 18th century West African scholar (from modern-day Senegal) who was captured by…
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Abels: Omar in LA – Librettist Voice
As we approach the Los Angeles Opera’s West Coast premiere of Michael Abels’ opera Omar, we check-in with Grammy-winner Rhiannon Giddens. Giddens co-composed original music for Omar and also wrote the opera’s English-language libretto. Omar was commissioned by the Spoleto Festival USA (Charleston, SC) and received its premiere in May 2022. The opera is scored…