“Omar,” Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels’ opera based on the true story of an enslaved African Muslim scholar, has won the2023年普利策奖for music.
San Francisco Opera is among the companies that commissioned the work, which isscheduled for a local premiere在战争纪念碑歌剧院通行e in November.
Giddens, the MacArthur fellow who is a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and hosts the opera podcast “Aria Code,” wrote the libretto for “Omar” and collaborated with Abels on the score. Abels is known as the composer for the Jordan Peele films “Get Out,” “Us” and “Nope.”
In a statement to The Chronicle, San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock called the prize “a testament to the creative genius of Rhiannon and Michael in writing an opera of such deep impact.”
He added, “It is the kind of truth that should be on the opera house stage, and I am so proud that we will present it this fall.”
“Omar” had its world premiere in May 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, S.C., and has since been presented in Los Angeles and Charlotte, N.C. The title role was created by American tenor Jamez McCorkle, who is scheduled to appear in San Francisco.
In awarding “Omar” the prestigious annual prize on Monday, May 8, the Pulitzer committee cited it as a piece “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.”
Reporters and photographers from The Chronicle werenamed as finaliststhis year in two of the prizes in the journalism categories. In addition to the music prize, there was recognition in other arts categories for works with a Bay Area connection.
“Stay True,”Hua Hsu’s poignant memoir of his South Bay childhood and coming of age at UC Berkeley in the 1990s, was awarded the prize for memoir or autobiography.
In the drama category, the Pulitzer board also awarded the prize to “English,” Sanaz Toossi’s chamber work about four adults learning English in an Iranian classroom. On Sunday, May 7, the play completed an acclaimed West Coast premiere run at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, which Chronicle theater critic Lily Janiakdescribed as“a master class in subtext.”
Reach Joshua Kosman:jkosman@sfchronicle.com; Twitter:@JoshuaKosman