David Krauss, Principal Trumpet of the Met Opera and host of Speaking Soundly has launched its second season.

The podcast launched with a conversation with the Grammy Award winner Rhiannon Giddens. The new episode, which was released on Feb. 7, showcases Giddens sharing that she is most at home on stage singing opera.

Giddens is a musical polymath. She has defied the odds and enrolled at Oberlin College to study opera without being able to read music, nor having seen a live performance.

Giddens credits her formal training at the conservatory and an apprenticeship with Black string musician Joe Thompson for her success and sees music as her most powerful vehicle. She is also the Artistic Director of the Silkroad Ensemble and also talks about her recent collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Francesco Turrisi, her love of the banjo, and her mission to reclaim American musical traditions.