The Pulitzer Prize for Music was awarded earlier this week to the new opera Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels.
The opera tells the true story of a Muslim scholar brought to the United States as a slave. Omar is based on the 1831 Arabic memoir, A Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar ibn Said. The book was not translated into English until 2011.
Here is the description of the work from the Pulitzer committee:
Premiered on May 27, 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., 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 is a news report on the opera.
