Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi performed live from the US Ambassador’s Residence in Dublin last month as part of the Other Voices special Dignity: Towards a More Equitable Future. For the event, a celebration of shared musical culture between the US and Ireland, Giddens and Turrisi performed "Calling Me Home" and "I Shall Not Be Moved," from their 2021 album, They’re Calling Me Home; "Build a House"; and Paul Simon’s "American Tune." You can watch the full show as well as the standalone performances of "American Tune" and "I Shall Not Be Moved" here.

Rhiannon Giddens was on NPR’s All Things Considered to discuss her book debut, Build a House, and her song that inspired it. The illustrated book, out now on Candlewick Press, was inspired by, and features the lyrics of, a song she wrote and recorded with Yo-Yo Ma to commemorate Juneteenth in 2020. Both the book and song tell the story of an enslaved family that will not be moved, and the music that sustains them. You can hear what Giddens told NPR’s Ailsa Chang about it here.

Rhiannon Giddens’s book debut, Build a House, is out today on Candlewick Press. The picture book was inspired by, and features the lyrics of, a song she wrote and recorded with Yo-Yo Ma to commemorate Juneteenth in 2020. A newly recorded version of “Build a House” with Ma and Francesco Turrisi is also out today on Nonesuch; you can watch the video here. Giddens will read the book and perform at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum October 13 and The Grammy Museum in LA October 22. Her Carnegie Hall Perspectives concerts begin October 15; her opera Omar with Michael Abels debuts at LA Opera October 22.

Nashville Ballet's production of Black Lucy and the Bard, set to an original score by Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, premieres on PBS's Great Performances this Friday, September 16, at 9pm ET. Playing onstage alongside the dancers, Giddens and Turrisi play several instruments including violin, banjo, mandolin, and piano. Author and performer Caroline Randall Williams narrates the ballet with her own spoken word poetry from the 2015 book on which the show was based, Lucy Negro, Redux. Choreographed and directed by Nashville Ballet’s artistic director Paul Vasterling, the ballet was recorded in March 2022.

Rhiannon Giddens is on Southern Living's Biscuits & Jam podcast. She talks with Southern Living Editor-in-Chief Sid Evans about her childhood in North Carolina, learning from her mentor Joe Thompson, making music with Carolina Chocolate Drops and in her own solo work, her new opera, Omar, and more, not least her efforts to bake the perfect biscuit. “I feel like I represent what the South is, which is a mixture of things,” Giddens says. “And I think that’s where our strength is.” You can hear their conversation here.

Rhiannon Giddens was on CBS Sunday Morning to discuss Omar, the opera she wrote with Michael Abels, based on the life and autobiography of enslaved Muslim scholar Omar Ibn Said, who was forcefully brought to Charleston, SC from Africa in 1807. “We need to know their stories,” says Giddens, “and then we know more about who we are now.” You can watch their conversation here.

Rhiannon Giddens was on PBS NewsHour to talk with Jeffrey Brown about her new role as artistic director of Silkroad, with whom she just concluded her first tour. "I love getting thrown something that I have never done before, but that I think I have the goods to do, but I have to figure out how to do it,” Giddens tells Brown. “And so I always say yes first and figure it out later.” You can watch Giddens’s conversation with Brown, who calls her "a boundless bridger of musical worlds and styles," here.

Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi are the hosts of a new Apple Music radio show, Musical Routes Radio, all six episodes of which are now available. You can hear them now on Apple Music, and tune in to hear them on Apple Radio Country every other Saturday. “So much of the Americana and country music we love has roots outside of the United States,” says the show. “Illustrating the many intersections between country/roots music and global musical traditions, including Celtic music, Caribbean music, Indigenous music, and more, listeners will discover new artists, broaden their own musical knowledge, and enjoy unscripted, far-reaching conversations from two of music's most encyclopedic minds."

Rhiannon Giddens performed in the National Memorial Day Concert on the National Mall in Washington, DC, last night. Giddens sang "Count on Me," a song she and Dirk Powell wrote and which she performed on the television show Nashville in 2017. You can watch her National Memorial Day Concert performance here.

Rhiannon Giddens has been named the Music Director for the 77th Ojai Music Festival, to be held June 8–11, 2023, in Ojai, CA. The initial list of guest artists includes Francesco Turrisi, Attacca Quartet, Wu Man, and Kayhan Kalhor. “I am so thrilled that Rhiannon Giddens accepted my invitation to become Music Director of the 2023 Ojai Music Festival,” says the Festival’s Artistic and Executive Director Ara Guzelimian. “I have boundless admiration for Rhiannon as both a compelling musician and as an extraordinary artistic catalyst bringing together musical worlds towards important philosophical, cultural, and social goals." Julia Bullock performs at the 2022 Festival, which takes place June 9–12. Past Artist Directors include John Adams, Jeremy Denk, and Dawn Upshaw.

Ahead of the long-awaited world premiere of Omar, the opera composed by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, next Friday, Giddens has released her own recording of the song “Julie’s Aria” from the opera. The recording was made by Giddens with guitarist Bill Frisell and her frequent collaborator Francesco Turrisi. Omar is based on the life and autobiography of enslaved Muslim scholar Omar Ibn Said, who was forcefully brought to Charleston from Africa in 1807. “My work as a whole is about excavating and shining a light on pieces of history that not only need to be seen and heard," Giddens says, "but that can also add to the conversation about what’s going on now. This is a story that hasn’t been represented in the operatic world—or in any world.” Omar will also be performed by LA Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Carnegie Hall has announced its 2022–23 concert season, and featured among the performers taking the esteemed hall's stages are Rhiannon Giddens, who has been named a Perspectives artist for the season and will lead four concerts, and Kronos Quartet. Also included in the season is an all–Steve Reich program performed by Colin Currie Group and Synergy Vocals.