Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Michael Abels, best known for his scores for films by director Jordan Peele, will visit campus March 6-7 for two days of public events and concerts as part of the College of Arts & Sciences’ Arts Unplugged series in partnership with the Department of Music and the Barbara & Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony.
Abels won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for the opera "Omar," co-composed with Grammy-winning artist Rhiannon Giddens, and he earned Emmy and Grammy nominations for his scores for the Peele films “Get Out,” “Us,” and “Nope.” His many concert works include the choral song cycle “At War With Ourselves” for the Kronos Quartet, and the Grammy-nominated “Isolation Variation” for violinist Hilary Hahn.
“Michael Abels is one of today’s most prolific and versatile composers,” said James Spinazzola, the Barbara & Richard T. Silver ‘50, MD ‘53 Associate Professor and director of winds in Cornell’s music department. “He seamlessly blends a wide spectrum of musics — from Western art music to jazz, hip-hop, and bluegrass — into something unmistakably his own. I’m thrilled to premiere my new arrangements of his music and to introduce both him and his unique compositional voice to our students and the Cornell community.”
The events in “Music Unbound: From stage to screen with composer Michael Abels,” include:
Friday, March 6
7:15 p.m. Panel discussion exploring how music shapes storytelling on screen, between:
- Ambre Dromgoole, assistant professor, Africana studies and music
- Igor Santos, assistant professor, music
- Samantha Sheppard, associate professor, performing and media arts
- Ashley Smith, assistant professor, media arts, sciences & studies, Ithaca College
- Michael Abels
8 p.m.: Screening of “Us” at Cornell Cinema, featuring music by Abels
The panel and screening is free and open to the public, and free popcorn will be available.
Saturday, March 7
6:30 p.m.: Pre-concert panel discussion about Abels's concert works and his approach to composing the music for "Omar," featuring:
- Seema Golestaneh, associate professor, Near Eastern studies
- Jorge Grossman, professor, music, Ithaca College
- James Spinazzola
- Michael Abels
7:30 p.m. Cornell Barbara and Richard T. Silver Wind Symphony concert featuring: Michael Abels, guest composer; Lisa Williamson, soprano; Juliana Pepinsky, flute; and Louis Arques, clarinet
The program includes world-premiere arrangements of works by Abels: “Unbound,” “Winged Creatures” and selections from ”Omar,” as well as Duke Ellington’s “A Tone Parallel to Harlem.”
“Omar” tells the story of Omar ibn Said, a Muslim African who was kidnapped and brought to the U.S. in 1807. His literacy in Arabic became a source of fascination for his captors, who ordered him to write his autobiography. The resulting manuscripts are among the few surviving narratives by an enslaved person in the U.S. and are now preserved in the Library of Congress.
The Saturday concert is also free, but tickets should be reserved here.
In 2022, Abels’ music was honored by the Vancouver International Film Festival, the Middleburg Film Festival and the Museum of the Moving Image. “Nope” was awarded Best Score for a Studio Film by the Society of Composers & Lyricists. Other recent projects include the films “Bad Education,” “Nightbooks,” “Chevalier” (Toronto Intl. Film Festival) and “Landscape With Invisible Hand” (Sundance 2022). Upcoming projects include “The Burial” (Amazon) and a series for Disney Plus.
This Arts Unplugged event is the first in a series that the College of Arts & Sciences is hosting during 2026 to celebrate the 250th birthday of the United States. The broad theme of “250 Years of America” enables the College to showcase different fields of study within Arts & Sciences and the ways they can help all of us to reflect on and understand this nation’s history, democracy and pluralism, while envisioning ideas for its future.
