Michael Abels

hideThis article has multiple issues. Please help or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. The specific problem is: untidy. Please help if you can. (March 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Michael Abels (born October 8, 1962) is a composer and producer best known for his scores for the Oscar-winning film Get Out, and Us. As a concert composer, Abels has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Meet The Composer, and the Sphinx Organization, among others. His orchestral works have been performed by the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and others. As guest conductor of Get Out In Concert, Abels has led orchestras including the National Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. Several of his orchestral works have been recorded by the Chicago Sinfonietta on the Cedille label, including Delights & Dances and Global Warming. Abels is co-founder of the Composers Diversity Collective, an advocacy group to increase visibility of composers of color in film, game and streaming media.^{[citation needed]}

Early life[]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Abels was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He spent his early years on a small farm in South Dakota, where he lived with his grandparents. Introduced to music via the family piano, he began showing an innate curiosity towards music at age 4.^[1] His music-loving grandparents convinced the local piano teacher to take him on as a student despite his age. At age 8, Abels began composing music, and by age 13, his first completed orchestral work was performed.^[2]

Upon graduating from high school, Abels attended the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles. Abels, who is mixed race,^{[citation needed]} eventually studied West African drumming techniques at California Institute for the Arts, and sang in a predominantly black church choir to further explore his African-American roots.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography[]

Composer

• Get Out (2017)
• Us (2019)
• See You Yesterday (2019)
• All Day and a Night (2020)
• Bad Education (2020)
• Nightbooks (2021)

Additional music

• Detroit (2017)

Other works[]

• Falling Sky, ballet (2020)
• At war with ourselves, a concert piece on a poem by Nikky Finney
• Omar, an original opera on the life of Omar ibn Said co-composed by Rhiannon Giddens
• Get Out in concert (2020)

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

• Profile at SubitoMusic.com
• IMDB Page
• Michael Abels Website