ANU alumnus Rupert Boyd as duo Boyd Meets Girl comes back to Canberra with new album

For ten years classical guitarist and ANU School of Music alumnus Rupert Boyd with wife American cellist Laura Metcalf have performed as the critically acclaimed duo Boyd Meets Girl. Both successful soloists, with Rupert described by The Washington Post as “truly evocative”, they performed across the United States and Australia and earned praise for their debut 2017 self-titled album. Now after the disruptions of the pandemic, the New York based duo are returning to Canberra after three years to showcase their new album, Songs of Love and Despair.

“It has obviously been an incredibly difficult time for everyone these past couple of years,” says Boyd of the upheaval they experienced, as did many in the creative arts during the pandemic. “The two main things that did get us through this time were looking after our young son (who at the beginning of the pandemic was a baby with just a little hair on his head and only able to speak a few dozen words, and who now is a fully fledged 4 year old boy), and recording our new album.”

Released in May, the album has already drawn praise from critics, with Gramophone describing the performances on it as beguiling and enchanting, featuring a mixture of classical and surprising non-classical companions. The contrast is to be expected, after all, as Boyd explains, this album is one filled with the music they wanted to hear during the depths of the pandemic. “The album is actually much more love than despair,” says Boyd. “And is an hour or so of music that we were drawn to play during the darkest days of the pandemic.”

The album combines classical pieces one might expect like Boccherini’s Sonata in A major and Schubert’s Gretchen am Spinnrade, with a selection of popular tracks from The Beatles, Radiohead and Beyonce given a classical twist. Another piece, A New York Minute, offers an original take on the fast paced life of New York where Rupert now calls home. The piece was specially written for Boyd and Metcalf by composer Marián Budoš.

For Rupert, it will be special to return to Canberra to showcase these new works after such a long break. Canberra is where he grew up and the backdrop to a formative time in his creative practice.

“The ANU was incredibly formative in my early musical training,” says Rupert who subsequently went on to complete studies at the Manhattan School of Music and Yale University. “My years at the ANU really gave me the fundamentals of my musical training. I had also been taking after-school lessons, both in classical guitar and music theory and history at the Canberra School of Music/ANU throughout my primary and high school years. My guitar teacher, Timothy Kain, was incredibly inspirational both at the time and still to this day.”

Boyd Meets Girl will be performing six shows as part of their Australian tour across the ACT, Queensland and Victoria. Their Canberra performance on July 10 will be at the Wesley Music Centre with tickets available here: http://www.trybooking.com/CAMVR

 “We are so thankful to be resuming our performing and touring schedules,” says Rupert. “There is something about being able to again travel half-way around the world that does give us optimism for the future.”

You can find out more about Rupert and Boyd Meet Girl's work at rupertboyd.com and boydmeetsgirlduo.com