Carolina Performing Arts Presents NC Premiere of Opera “Omar” This Weekend
CHAPEL HILL, NC – The Carolina Performing Arts will host the North Carolina premiere of the opera “Omar” this Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 25 and 26 at 7 p.m.
The opera, created by musician Rhiannon Giddens and composer Michael Abels, is about Omar ibn Said, an enslaved Fula Muslim scholar whose writings have survived the transatlantic slave trade.
“My work as a whole is about excavating and shining a light on pieces of history that not only need to be seen and heard, but that can also add to the conversation about what’s going on now,” Rhiannon Giddens, said. “This is a story that hasn’t been represented in the operatic world — or in any world.”
From Futa Toro in West Africa, Omar was originally a scholar researching history and theology. However, he was kidnapped and transported to Charleston, South Carolina in 1807. The Carolina Performing Arts said the opera tells a profound story of strength, resistance, and religious conviction in the face of harrowing circumstances.
Tickets are from $39 to $69. The opera will run for two hours and 45 minutes, with a 20-minute intermission.
CBS Sunday Morning: The opera “Omar,” on a Muslim slave in America
Other events related to the opera will also be held on UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus. An “Open Classroom” event, in which the two composers will have a conversation with Dr. Naomi André at Moeser Auditorium in Hill Hall on Thursday, Feb. 23 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
Later that day, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., “What is the ‘Autobiography’ of Omar Ibn Said?” with Dr. Carl W. Ernst and Dr. Mbaye Lo will be held at the Atrium in FedEx Global Education Center. The Wilson Library will host instruction sessions in Room 901 next Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.