George Lewis (CRF 1998) was named a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music for his composition The Comet. The Pulitzer committee recognized the piece for its conceptual ambition and innovative musical language, underscoring Lewis’s ongoing contributions to contemporary composition. The Comet exemplifies his signature fusion of structure, improvisation, and social inquiry.
The Comet / Poppea, which premiered on June 14, 2024, “brings together seemingly disparate worlds connected by stories of cultural transformation. It juxtaposes Claudio Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (The Coronation of Poppea), an Italian opera from 1643 unfolding among the social divisions of ancient Rome; and the world premiere of The Comet, based on the 1920 science-fiction short story by sociologist and Pan-Africanist civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois. Set in 1920s New York City, “The Comet” depicts a Black man and white woman as the only survivors after a comet hits Earth.
Presented on a turntable divided in two halves, these worlds unfold simultaneously, with the stage’s rotation creating a visual and sonic spiral for audiences—inviting associations, dissociations, collisions, and confluences.”
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