New York, NY (Top40 Charts) MusicUNTOLD has selected GET OUT composer Michael Abels as their 2017 Composer of Year. The award will be presented at an event at the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library in Long Beach on February 18th (2-3:30PM). Abels will discuss the two parts of his career, as a celebrated classical composer (hosted by MusicUNTOLD's John Malveaux) and as a film composer (hosted by Long Beach Vice Mayor Rex Richardson).
Michael Abels is an African-American composer known for his orchestral works "
Global Warming", "Delights & Dances", "
Urban Legend", and choral pieces like "Be The Change" and "
Limitless". With a "keen ear for musical color and a deft ability to adapt structural elements from popular music into the symphonic idiom," (Houston Chronicle), Michael Abels gained widespread recognition for his orchestral music.
Best known for combining classical music with African-American jazz, blues, bluegrass and ethnic genres, Michael was asked by writer/director Jordan Peele to compose the music for GET OUT. "I wanted Michael Abels, who did the score, to create something that felt like it lived in this absence of hope but still had [black roots]," Peele said in a recent interview for GQ. Abels earned a Discovery of the Year nomination by the World
Soundtrack Academy (Ghent, Belgium) for his work on GET OUT.
Born in Phoenix, AZ, Abels attended the University of Southern California, studying with
James Hopkins and Robert Linn. Later he studied West African music with Alfred Ladzekpo at the California
Institute for the Arts. He recently served as
Director of
Music for New Roads School in
Santa Monica.
Michael is a past recipient of grants and commissions from the
National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, LA Opera, and many orchestras throughout the country. In his concert career he has worked with
James Earl Jones, Doc Severinsen, and a diverse group of other musical artists. Abels also wrote the score for Fantasea at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and contributed additional music to the film DETROIT.
The event is being produced by John Malveaux for MusicUNTOLD, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt website dedicated to representing programs that promote diversity and human dignity, with a focus on achievements by composers of African descent.
EVENT DETAILS
Sunday, February 18, 2018 (2:00 - 3:30 PM)
Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library
Community Room
5870 Atlantic Ave.
Long Beach, CA. 90805
