Composer Michael Abels On Bringing The Life Of Omar ibn Said To The Opera

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Sasha-Ann Simons (0:40)

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Be sure to listen all the way through the podcast for a breakdown of the day's top local stories. But first, when two powerhouse creators in American music come together, the result is Omar. Co-composers Michael Abels and Rhiannon Giddens have gifted audiences with an award-winning opera inspired by the extraordinary life and writings of Omar ibn Said. If you're unfamiliar, ibn Said was a Muslim scholar who was captured in West Africa and enslaved in the American South from 1807 until his death in 1864

Omar blends hymns and spirituals into a moving story about the strength of the human spirit. The words are drawn from the memoir of ibn Said's journey. In this episode of the pod, we'll get a behind-the-scenes look at bringing this history to life on the Lyric Opera stage. At the table with me was Michael Abels, Pulitzer Prize-winning co-composer of Omar. Now, in addition to this Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Michael's best known for composing the scores of the Jordan Peele films Get Out, Us, and Nope, I asked him how he translates his film work into the opera. Here's Michael.

Michael Abels (1:59)

Personally, I always thought that film and opera had a lot of similarities, but people always ask me, they're so different. So I started thinking about how they're different and they and yes, they really are.

The biggest difference is that in film, the music is a very important component, but it's not the primary component. It's part of the whole storytelling milieu and is used to kind of confirm the emotions that the audience is interpreting from what the actors are putting out, and then maybe heightening those emotions and expressions in the way that only music can. But in opera, well, and so the music is kind of following the story and following the character's journey, if you will. But in opera, the music actually sets the stage and becomes the entire, the music becomes the environment that then the singer, the character speaks or sings into. So the music in that way can lead the emotional experience. And it's kind of an intellectual explanation, but that's how I look at the differences and how I approach knowing when to be larger than life and when to be, and when to really back off and be subtle.

Sasha-Ann Simons (3:17)

Right. No, it's a great explanation. I saw this in person yesterday. I watched the performance yesterday. And so did Dr. Sonya Williams in St. John, Indiana. She's one of our listeners right now. We just started a new thing, Michael, where folks can text in and join the conversation live. And so Sonya says, I saw the play yesterday. It was amazing. The actors after the show discussed the limited time that they had to prepare for this.

Do you know the answer? She says, why did they have such a limited time to prepare?

Michael Abels (3:47)

Well, first of all, Sonya, thank you for turning out for the opera. It had to do with the incredible budget constraints that not only opera companies, but all fine arts, performing arts organizations find themselves in the post-pandemic era. And while the pandemic is receding in our memory, all that planning happened years ago because of the long timeline to stage an opera. So that was all that could be afforded at the time that it was scheduled.

Sasha-Ann Simons (4:23)

Well, they did a fine job. I would never have been able to tell.

Michael Abels (4:26)

It's really remarkable to see how quickly everyone pulled together and made it what it is.

Sasha-Ann Simons (4:31)

So you talked a moment ago about just the music, sort of setting the stage in an opera.

And there's a lot of places to go in a story like this one, right? Because ibn Said's story, it does take us across the globe. We go from West Africa to being enslaved in South Carolina, escaping to North Carolina, right? And then before being enslaved again. How do you compose music that is expansive enough to convey all of that?

Michael Abels (4:57)

Well, it's a big assignment, but both Rhiannon and I have, even though she's so well known as an artist who explores folk music and really tells our history through writing songs that bring that history alive, and she does that with her banjo and her incredible singing voice, I'm also someone who's always been interested in folk music of any culture. I've always been fascinated by the similarities between folk music of very disparate cultures.