Rhiannon Giddens brings the blues to the Philharmonic

Ask Rhiannon Giddens to describe her upcoming concert with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra and she has a ready answer: “It’s gonna be a nice mixture of all the things I do.” And Giddens does a lot of things. She’s a violinist, a banjo player, a singer and founder of the Grammy-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, a country-folk-blues band. She also studied opera at Oberlin Conservatory, has two solo albums to her credit and appeared on TV’s country-music drama “Nashville.” She has won the MacArthur “Genius Grant” fellowship, worked on a Broadway production and is developing a new musical, a ballet score, an opera.

Then there are her tour dates and her two children — who are based in Ireland with their father.

All of her experiences and skills combine when she takes the stage with a symphony orchestra, she says.

“They all influence each other,” she says. “Everything that I have done goes into the pot, and I never know what’s going to come out.”

If you see her opera background influencing the banjo or a hint of folk-music phrasing in her more formal singing, Giddens will be happy.

Folk, country and blues, with their emphasis on storytelling, often run deep with the highs and lows of life.

“Each song is like a mini-opera for me,” she says. “You just focus on that song. You want to find that sweet spot of emotion so it doesn’t overpower you.”

Still, it does take some planning to avoid emotional whiplash. She had to learn to channel her emotions differently during intense 2016 rehearsals as she prepared to step into the Broadway musical “Shuffle Along.” The show closed before her debut — but TV immediately came calling with “Nashville.”

As a “more internal actor,” she felt a greater affinity with TV’s style.

“TV is the exact opposite” of theater, she says. “You have to actually make everyone come to you. If you twitch your eyebrow, you’ve overacted.”

She enjoyed her time on “Nashville,” “and I was really grateful, too,” she says.

She took away a lesson that carries weight off the set, as well.

“I learned a lot about being in the moment,” she says. “I think that’s a valuable lesson for everyone.”