Rhiannon Giddens

Lunch and Learn: Career in Conversation: A conversation on career development for artists with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and Alice Jones, assistant dean of community engagement and career services

Historical Performance Workshop: A discussion and exploration of listen-and-learn methods through traditional and folk music with the Historical Performance department

Vocal Performance Seminar: Guest lecture and demonstration for vocal arts, drama, jazz, and composition students about what to consider when performing and writing for the voice

Traditional Music Workshop for Chamber Musicians: A jam session with classical instrumentalists and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi

Traditional Music Workshop with Historical Performance: A workshop with the Historical Performance community and multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi making traditional music together and discussing its place in today’s musical landscape

The 10th Annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Speaker Series—Art as Service: The Artist’s Responsibility to Self, to Process, and to the Community: Giddens spoke on the theme of artists’ responsibilities to themselves and the world for the 10th annual MLK Speaker Series

Spring ChamberFest Concert: Giddens curated, coached, and hosted a performance of her own vocal and chamber works as part of Juilliard’s annual festival. The concert included selections from her opera Omar, dance drama Black Lucy and the Bard, and an arrangement of her song “At the Purchaser’s Option”

Musician and Juilliard Creative Associate Rhiannon Giddens uses her art to excavate the past and reveal bold truths about our present. A MacArthur “genius” grant recipient and two-time Grammy winner, Giddens co-founded the Black string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, formed the band Our Native Daughters with three other Black female banjo players to create music from stories of historic Black womanhood and survival, and has been nominated for six additional Grammys for her work as a soloist and collaborator. Giddens’ latest album, They’re Calling Me Home, her second collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, won the 2020 Grammy for best folk album. In 2020, Giddens was named artistic director of Silkroad, a social impact organization and global music ensemble founded by Yo-Yo Ma. Last year saw the world premiere of her first opera, Omar, at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston and the LA Opera in Los Angeles. Co-composed with Michael Abels, Omar is based on the autobiography of Omar Ibn Said, an Islamic scholar sold into slavery. Giddens co-composed the music for the ballet Black Lucy and the Bard (fka Lucy Negro Redux) with Turrisi, which premiered in 2019 with the Nashville Ballet and was shown on PBS’ Great Performances last fall. In October, she released her first children's book, Build a House, based on the lyrics of her song. Giddens is also curating a four-concert Perspectives series as part of Carnegie Hall’s 2022–23 season.