Omar | Boston Lyric Opera

In 1807, 37-year-old Omar Ibn Said was made to board a ship bound for Charleston, South Carolina—the site of his enslavement and sale. Created by Giddens, the Grammy Award-winning musician and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient and Abels, composer of the score to the Oscar-nominated film Get Out, this New England premiere narrates Said’s 1831 autobiography, beginning from his childhood and ending some 30 years before he was laid to rest. This record of his life and Muslim faith reveals a refusal to be defined or erased by his captors. It’s a seminal work of strength, resistance, and religious conviction—a work underscoring the indelible power of the written word. Co-commissioned and co-produced by Boston Lyric Opera with Spoleto Festival USA, L.A. Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. More Information