Boyd performs intimate concert in Kleinburg
First Lady of Guitar performs July 10

YorkRegion.com
June 27, 2014
By Adam Martin-Robbins

Liona Boyd, Canada’s First Lady of the Guitar, is set to perform an intimate concert in Kleinburg, amongst paintings created by the renowned artists who inspired some of the songs she’ll be playing.

Boyd will perform pieces from her new album, The Return...to Canada with Love, featuring songs dedicated to the Group of Seven and Emily Carr, at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection Thursday, July 10.

The concert marks a return to the gallery for Boyd.

During the 1988 World Economic Summit, Mila Mulroney, wife of then prime minister Brian Mulroney, invited Boyd to perform at the McMichael for spouses of the G7 leaders, including Nancy Reagan.

“It’s been too long and I look forward to returning,” Boyd said in a news release. “I hope I will have a chance to look around and, now that I’m back in Canada, I plan to visit the McMichael more often.”

In 2003, Boyd, a five-time Juno Award winner and Order of Canada recipient, was diagnosed with musician’s focal dystonia, forcing her to leave the stage for six years.

During that time she reinvented her guitar technique and returned to the recording studio in 2009.

She currently performs with fellow classical guitarist and singer Michael Savona.

An interview with Boyd, covering aspects of her artistic upbringing and illustrious career, as well as her experience collaborating with some of Canada’s most celebrated musicians on The Return album, will be published in the inaugural issue of the McMichael Magazine, due out later this summer.

Since receiving her first guitar at 13, Boyd has performed for audiences around the world, including the British Royal family, the King and Queen of Spain, American presidents and prime ministers of Canada, France and Britain.

She has toured with Gordon Lightfoot and Tracey Chapman, and recorded with Eric Clapton, David Gilmour and Olivia Newton-John, among others.

“The McMichael is honoured to host a musician of Liona Boyd’s talent and importance to our nation,” said Victoria Dickenson, McMichael executive director and CEO. “Her recent album celebrates so many of the things that the McMichael and its visitors hold dear - the beauty of the Canadian landscape and the diversity of its people being chief among them.”

The McMichael gallery is located at 10365 Islington Ave.

Tickets for the concert cost $65 (includes taxes and gallery admission).

To order, call 905-893-1121 ext. 2209 or visit mcmichael.com