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DTSTAMP:20260821T120009Z
UID:8517640f-7b22-4ac7-bcba-d0a8b918fb9f
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261023
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261028
DESCRIPTION:Oct 23-28\, 2026\nIn 2022\, the Spoleto Festival USA\, in Charl
 eston\, South Carolina\, unveiled Omar\, an operatic biography by Rhiannon
  Giddens and Michael Abels\, based on the authentic 19th-century memoir A 
 Muslim American Slave: The Life of Omar ibn Said. The following year\, the
  opera was honored with the Pulitzer Prize. As directed by Kaneza Schaal a
 nd conducted by John Kennedy\, with Jamez McCorkle luminous in the title r
 ole\, it lingers in memory as a dignified\, speculative work of unforced s
 pirituality. These impressions cannot\, alas\, be tested against a commerc
 ially available recording or video\, for none exists. All the more reason 
 to welcome Omar to the Lyric Opera stage\, in Schaal’s original producti
 on\, conducted this time by Kazem Abdullah. Issachah Savage\, whose bread 
 and butter this summer has been the jubilant tenor solo in Beethoven’s S
 ymphony No. 9 everywhere from Seattle to London’s Royal Albert Hall and 
 back to Aspen\, is onboard for the introspective title role. According to 
 informed estimates\, anywhere between 10 and 30 percent of Africans traffi
 cked to America were Muslims\, yet no personal testimony other than Omar
 ’s is known to survive.
LOCATION:Lyric Opera of Chicago\, 20 N Upper Wacker Dr\, Chicago\, IL 60606
 \, USA
SUMMARY:Omar\, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/omar-by-rhiannon-gidd
 ens-and-michael-abels
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