Conversation: Rhiannon Giddens and Davóne Tines with Nate Chinen

Last year, the Pulitzer Prize for Music went to Omar, an opera with libretto and music by Rhiannon Giddens. One of two other finalists in the category was Tyshawn Sorey’s Monochromatic Light (Afterlife), which prominently features vocalist Davóne Tines. The recognition merely acknowledges some facts on the ground: namely, that Giddens and Tines are two of the most compelling figures in contemporary music, each with a presence and perspective that can’t be ignored. What they also have in common is the transfixing power of a voice — one, a radiant operatic soprano with a rootsy natural register, and the other, a powerful bass-baritone with a flexible upper range — that brings embodied presence to their artistry. Nate Chinen, the editorial director at WRTI, will moderate a conversation about the voice as an instrument, a locus, and a catalyst, and the ways in which Tines and Giddens have kept challenging every category they see fit to inhabit.