Limerick-based singer Rhiannon Giddens wins 2023 Pulitzer Prize for music

Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels were awarded the prize for their opera, Omar

Rhiannon Giddens

Limerick-based folk singer Rhiannon Giddens has been awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for music alongside American composer, Michael Abels.

The pair won the prize for their opera, Omar which is based on the autobiography of an enslaved Muslim man, Omar Ibn Said, who lived in South Carolina in the 19th century. The opera premiered in 2022.

The accolade comes after the vocalist, multi-instrumentalist was awarded a Grammy for her most recent album, They’re Calling Me Home.

In a tweet, Giddens thanked the Pulitzer Prize committee for “recognising this piece & for giving the remarkable story of Omar ibn Said more light”.

“This is cultural work, it’s heavy work, it's energising work, it's spirit work. It’s an honor and a privilege to be a part of it,” she said. 

Ok now that the shock has worn off (jk, it probably never will) I have to say a humongous thank you to the @PulitzerPrizes committee for recognizing this piece & for giving the remarkable story of Omar ibn Said more light. pic.twitter.com/GJqx4hGk3O

— Rhiannon Giddens (@RhiannonGiddens) May 8, 2023

The critically acclaimed singer has lived in Limerick for over 10 years and is a proud Castletroy resident. Prior to meeting her ex, Limerick man and musician Michael Laffa, Giddens said she had never thought of the city as a place — but rather as a comic verse.

The mother of two has previously spoken about her love for the city and the similarities between Limerick and her native Greensboro, North Carolina.

She told the Irish Examiner  in 2021: "I’m not a Dublin fan. It’s fine. It’s a fine city. It doesn’t speak to me. Limerick makes more sense to me.

“Greensboro’s got a really tiny downtown and a lot of suburban belt. I feel like Limerick has this small downtown and then there’s Castletroy, there’s all these places around it. It’s got a small-town feel thought it has some aspects of a city. That’s my experience of Greensboro. It was a logical move in a lot of ways.” 

Omar is an opera with libretto with music by Giddens, in collaboration with Michael Ables. A New York Times review of the opera said that only a musician like Giddens could have created Omar.

“Their [Giddens and Ables] score, nimbly handled by the conductor John Kennedy and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, is a melting pot inspired by bluegrass, hymns, spirituals and more, with nods to traditions from Africa and Islam. It’s an unforced ideal of American sound: expansive and ever-changing," it read.