UNC Greensboro alumna Rhiannon Giddens is already a certified genius, having received a MacArthur Fellowship. She has received a Grammy Award twice.
On May 8, 2023, she was announced as the winner of the Pulitzer Prize. “Omar,” by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, would receive the 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winner In Music.
The Pulitzer committee called it “an innovative and compelling opera about slaves brought to North America from Muslim countries, a musical work that respectfully represents African and African-American traditions, expanding the language of lyric form while transmitting the humanity of the condemned. to servitude.
Giddens spoke about the beginnings of his work on this opera at a UNCG conference in 2018. Titled “Bilal’s Songs: Blending and Remixing the African Diaspora and the Islamic World – A Conversation with Rhiannon Giddens, Dr Omar Ali and Francesco Turrisi“, the event explored how African Americans have shaped the musical traditions of the Americas and are the product of multiple traditions, including Muslim-influenced cultures and peoples around the world.
That evening, Giddens, who was studying music at UNCG, spoke about Omar ibn Said, an enslaved Muslim in the Carolinas in the 19th century. Dr. Ali noted that a mosque here in eastern North Carolina is named after him.
Giddens told the UNCG audience that she was working on a project on Omar ibn Said. She noted that the North Carolinian had written his autobiography in Arabic. The evening ended with a very Turkish-sounding song, its oud-like banjo and Turissi playing his Arab-Muslim-influenced tamburello.
His concerts at UNCG, whether as a solo artist or with the former Carolina Chocolate Drops, are legendary.
As of December 2020, Giddens was the UNCG Commencement Speaker. During this online ceremony, she recounted the educational experiences she “brought a lot to the table” during her graduate program year. She mentioned her UNCG voice teacher, Levone Tobin Scott. She recalled her two operas while a student at UNCG, “Little Women” and “Susannah” — and that opera director David Holley allowed her to choreograph the square dance for the latter, in December 2020. Very importantly, she learned about entrepreneurship and business. to have a career in music. She ended the keynote with the title track from her soon-to-be-released album, “They’re Calling Me Home.”
We think she is the third UNCG graduate receive a Pulitzer. Claudia Emerson received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2006. Margaret Louise Coit received the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1951.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning opera premiered in 2022 at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, with UNCG alumna Cheryse McLeod Lewis in the role of Omar’s mother. The work has been carried out in several American cities over the past year.
By Mike Harris, UNCG Magazine Editor
Archived photograph by Martin W. Kane, UNCG
Updated 9/05, to include information about Coitand updated on 10/3 for inclusion in the fall online magazine.