Rhiannon Giddens

Rhiannon Giddens has made a singular, iconic career out of stretching her brand of folk music, with its miles-deep historical roots and contemporary sensibilities, into just about every field imaginable. A two-time GRAMMY Award-winning singer and multi-instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, Pulitzer Prize winner, and composer of opera, ballet, and film, Giddens has centered her work around the mission of lifting up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased. Giddens has released three albums under her own name, two in collaboration with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, and one in collaboration with the Silkroad Ensemble. Her forthcoming album in collaboration with Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, will release in April 2025. A founding member of the landmark Black string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, and the all-female banjo supergroup, Our Native Daughters, Giddens is as much a curator as a creator. She is the current Artistic Director of the Yo-Yo Ma-founded Silkroad Ensemble, hosts a TV show on PBS, My Music with Rhiannon Giddens, and has hosted two podcasts (Aria Code from New York City’s NPR affiliate station WQXR, which ran for three seasons, and American Railroad from Silkroad). In 2025, she will launch her own music festival in Durham, NC called Biscuits & Banjos, to celebrate Black culture outside the mainstream.