The Big Ears Festival 2015, which took place at venues throughout Knoxville, Tennessee, late last month, was the subject of a feature profile on PBS NewsHour on Friday. The piece, by NewsHour's Jeffrey Brown, looks at how the festival "breaks barriers for open-minded music lovers," not least from performers like this year's artists in residence, Kronos Quartet, and their fellow Nonesuch artists to perform at Big Ears, Rhiannon Giddens, Laurie Anderson, Sam Amidon, and Tyondai Braxton. Brown spoke with Kronos Quartet artistic director and founding violinist David Harrington and with Giddens about this idea and how it manifest itself in their own music.

"Kronos looks like a traditional quartet, but the group has made its name by stretching the form," says Brown.

"The world of music is a cool, wonderful place," says Harrington. "What I want is for music, and concerts, and musical experiences to be these places where we learn new things about each other, about instruments, about culture, about life. And music is the greatest teacher.

Giddens, who joined Kronos for a performance of folk music from around the world and kicked off her own solo tour at the festival, tells Brown: "It’s great because it gets you out of your comfort zone and it makes you just go, OK, I’m going to consider something from a totally different point of view. And I just think that’s really important. You can’t make art by thinking, this isn’t going to fit. You just do what seems right."

Watch the PBS NewsHour piece here: