Pianist

Singer and instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens’ iconic brand of folk music spotlights people whose contributions to American musical history have been overlooked or erased, and advocates for a more accurate understanding of the country’s musical origins through art. A two-time Grammy Award winner, MacArthur fellow and composer, she was awarded the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her debut opera Omar. Her highly-anticipated new solo album, You’re the One, releases in August.

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Rhiannon Giddens

Granada Theatre

Under the leadership of 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner, the dynamic multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, the Grammy-winning, genre-defying Silkroad Ensemble embarks on a new initiative that illuminates the impact of under-recognized voices in America’s expansion west. The project explores the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad through the contributions of African American, Chinese, Irish, Indigenous, and other communities, their cultures, and their music. Chinese traditional instruments like the guzheng, pipa, erhu, and qinqin are contrasted with the fiddle, bones, tambo, and banjo of Black musical traditions, and their Indigenous and Celtic counterparts. New compositions and commissions weave these disparate traditions together to tell a new version of the American story. As Giddens told the New York Times, “Silkroad has people from all over, and that’s what makes it such a great group to represent the American story, because that’s what the American story is. We are world music”.

American Railroad Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens

University of California, Berkeley

American Railroad highlights the cultural diffusion and collaboration that resulted as African American, Chinese, Irish, and Native American communities made vital contributions to the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, the Grammy Award-winning Silkroad Ensemble recontextualizes the railroad through the sounds of the worlds that collided through its creation.

American Railroad

Stanford University

Silkroad’s newest initiative, American Railroad, illuminates the impact of African American, Chinese, Irish, and Native American communities on the creation of the Transcontinental Railroad and America’s Westward Expansion. Exploring the dissemination of cultures across the United States, the railroad was to North America what the Silk Road was to China, the Far East and Europe.

American Railroad: Silkroad Ensemble With Rhiannon Giddens

Soka Performing Arts Center

American Railroad Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens1

As a social-impact organization and home to a Grammy Award-winning musical ensemble, Silkroad works to inspire collaboration in innovative ways that add more equity and justice into the world through the power of the arts. Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens, Silkroad reaches new heights through a commitment to new music, a re-sparked mission towards cultural collaboration, and a reinvigorated focus to high-quality arts education that both reflects its mission and the times in which we live.

Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens

Balboa Theatre

Curated by Francesco Turrisi, a program of morning music spanning from ancient pipa music to works of Dowland and Monteverdi.

Early Music

Libbey Bowl

A musical summit and jam session featuring solos and collaborations among the bowed and plucked string instruments from cultures in the Americas, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

Finale: Strings Attached

An Ojai-commissioned chamber work for voices and small ensemble drawn from the opera Omar, by Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels, paired with the musical traditions of Senegal and the Carolinas.

Omar's Journey

An intimate acoustic concert with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi with music ranging from Baroque, Appalachian ballads to traditional Black American songs.

An Evening with Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi

This compelling reimagining of Silkroad’s acclaimed American Railroad program features an intimate, powerful ensemble of eight world-class musicians led by internationally renowned pipa master Wu Man. The program weaves a sonic tapestry that honors the often-overlooked contributions of Indigenous and African Americans, along with Chinese, Irish, Japanese, and other immigrant communities who laid the tracks that transformed a nation. Amplifying the voices of those who built the railroads—and those displaced by them—the Silkroad Ensemble reveals a richer, more inclusive portrait of America’s past.

Pianist

Francesco Turrisi

Events

Upcoming events

Nov 16, 2025

American Railroad · Strathmore

Past events

Apr 23, 2024

Rhiannon Giddens · The Granada Theatre

Nov 17, 2023

American Railroad Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens · Cal Performances

About

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