Classical guitarist Liona Boyd was a trailblazer when she first rose to fame within the Nineteen Seventies. In 2025, she’ll be inducted as a member of Canada’s Stroll of Fame. The group lately made the announcement of Boyd’s recognition, which coincided with the discharge of her debut album in 1974.
Canada’s Stroll of Fame is a not-for-profit charitable group that appears to encourage Canadians by spotlighting those that make extraordinary achievements in quite a lot of fields, counting greater than 230 inductions thus far.
Liona Boyd is a five-time JUNO Award winner whose induction will probably be among the many first spherical beneath the Arts & Leisure class in 2025.
We caught up with the Canadian icon to ask a couple of questions.
Liona Boyd
A composer in addition to classical guitarist, Boyd was born in London, UK, however grew up in Toronto. That’s the place her mother and father gifted her with a classical guitar they’d purchased on a visit to Spain. She was 13 years previous. She fell in love with the instrument after attending a live performance that includes Julian Bream, and went on to check with the very best, together with Bream himself, and Andrés Segovia. Liona earned her Bachelor of Music diploma from the College of Toronto in 1972, and adopted it up with two years of personal examine with Alexandre Lagoya in Paris.
She made her Carnegie Corridor debut in 1975, and started a touring profession that included performing as a gap act for Canadian singer Gordon Lightfoot.
Boyd would construct a profitable worldwide profession that noticed her performing for royalty and heads of state, in concert events everywhere in the world, in quite a few recordings, and tv appearances.
However, success itself would take a toll.
In 2002, her profession would take successful when she was recognized with focal dystonia, a poorly understood situation that impacts the particular perform of sure fingers, and is usually present in musicians. As she described it in an interview, “It appeared that 40 years of taking part in the identical notes thousands and thousands of instances had brought on one finger to insurgent and now not obey my mind’s instructions.”
After quitting the stage in 2003, she would reinvent herself as she retrained her affected finger to play, and make a comeback in 2009.
“I now realized that I used to be a pure songwriter and reinvented myself as a singer, whereas nonetheless taking part in my beloved guitar with a simplified approach.” she defined in an interview.
She’s launched a number of albums and toured since then.
Boyd has turn into identified for mixing classical, people, and varied international parts into her music, and has recorded 30 albums.
Alongside together with her JUNO assortment, Boyd was named an Officer of the Order of Canada, amongst many different awards and recognition. She can be the author of two autobiographies, In My Personal Key (1998) and No Treatment for Love (2017), and a youngsters’s e book.
Liona’s newest full-length album, As soon as Upon a Time, was launched in 2023, and a video for the instrumental monitor Shadows of the Wind dropped only a few weeks in the past.
Liona Boyd: Q&A
We requested the celebrated musician about her profession, and what it means to be included in The Stroll of Fame.
What retains you making music a half century after the discharge of your debut album?
Music has enabled me to have an thrilling and adventurous life. Being artistic with my guitar and with my lyrics provides me essentially the most profound pleasure possible. I really like developing with new music, and sometimes whereas writing melodies it feels as if they’re flowing into me from one other dimension. I’ve experimented with so many alternative types and am delighted that every one of my albums are actually that can be purchased or stream.
Once I bear in mind all of the symphonies I carried out with, my a whole bunch of solo concert events, my two main excursions with my very own band and numerous concert events, extra lately with a duo companion taking part in and singing with me, I really feel really blessed.
Your most up-to-date launch, As soon as Upon A Time, reimagines a few of your earlier work, together with presenting new compositions, however appears in the end to have a timeless high quality. Is {that a} objective, to create a sound world to your listeners that’s outdoors of the on a regular basis expertise?
Sure, that could be very perceptive of you. My producer Peter Bond and I needed this to be a timeless album. A lot of it was impressed by movie scores, therefore its expansive sound stage. Certainly my hope is that the album will present an escape past the on a regular basis expertise. One of many items was primarily based on an older composition of mine known as “Shadows Of The Wind”, which is considered one of my favorite melodies. I really like Peter’s new manufacturing for it. We simply launched a video for it that’s on my YouTube Vevo channel The album has many large and intimate moments, typically throughout the similar piece. For instance the opening monitor, Cantarium, with it’s stately themes and surprising transcendental classical guitar cadenza.
As soon as Upon A Time was effectively suited to the Atmos (Immersive audio) mixes which might be obtainable on Apple Music. Peter labored with Jeff Wolpert with the Atmos mixes, however in fact the album sounds wonderful in Stereo too!
This summer season I revisited my duet with Olivia Newton-John with a brand new manufacturing, “Summer season Goals”, which we launched in August together with a video. It’s had an amazing response from each her followers and mine with over 70k audio streams.
Within the classical world, regardless of the careers of artists such as you, the guitar has been seen as one thing of an outlier, nevertheless it looks like there’s a renewed curiosity in it only in the near past. Would you agree — is it one thing you’ve noticed your self as an advocate of the instrument?
Sure, and maybe being in lockdown through the pandemic fired up many individuals to take up the classical guitar. Evidently there are extra gamers than ever and the guitar scene could be very wholesome.
As an unofficial worldwide ambassador and champion for the classical guitar my complete profession, I discover it immensely satisfying to see such a lot of gifted classical guitarists from world wide. And at last at this time this contains so many feminine gamers, one thing that was uncommon once I began my profession within the mid seventies.
Who’re you listening to lately? Are there any younger Canadian artists in your playlists?
Fairly actually I’ve not saved “au courante” with the Canadian classical guitar scene, however by means of my web site I hear from many who credit score me with having impressed them. Earlier this yr I “paid it ahead” by buying 30 lovely new guitars from Yamaha and held a giveaway throughout Canada by means of Lengthy & McQuade we had an enormous response with over 17,000 entries. I obtained essentially the most great letters of appreciation from the winners, which had been printed in newest L&M journal.
I hope many mother and father will purchase guitars for his or her children over the vacations. In any case, it was a Christmas current that led me to this most lovely of devices.
What does inclusion within the Stroll of Fame imply to you?
I’m thrilled to be inducted into Canada’s Stroll of Fame together with so many distinguished Canadians from numerous fields. It’s exhausting to consider I’ve spent over 50 years within the music enterprise! I do know I launched thousands and thousands to the classical guitar once I appeared on tv exhibits such because the Tonight Present and NBC’s As we speak, in addition to having my very own TV specials in varied international locations together with Canada.
I’m very touched and honoured by this recognition and am grateful to all my followers and supporters and to Canada’s Stroll of Fame for selecting to incorporate me.
- The 2025 Canada’s Stroll of Fame Awards Present and Gala Celebration will happen on Saturday, June 14, 2025 on the Metro Toronto Conference Centre.
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Anya Wassenberg is a Toronto Metropolis Editor at Ludwig Van. She is an skilled freelance author, blogger and writing teacher.