A Conversation With “Boyd Meets Girl”
Boyd Meets Girl. Photograph by Dario Acosta
Boyd Meets Girl pairs Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd with American cellist Laura Metcalf. The duo has toured the world sharing their eclectic mix of music from Debussy and Bach to Radiohead and Beyoncé, and their two studio albums have been streamed well over 2 million times on Spotify alone.
“Boyd Meets Girl is precisely the type of ensemble that we had in mind when we established our outdoor Promenade Series a year ago,” says Richard Wargo, Artistic Director of The Sembrich, “engaging, virtuosic performers; an eclectic, imaginative mix of repertoire presented with sophistication and wit.”
We’re delighted that Boyd Meets Girl is able to join us this season — and grateful to Rupert Boyd and Laura Metcalf for taking the time to respond to some questions in advance of their July 26th performance at The Sembrich:
THE SEMBRICH: Can you give us some background on yourselves, individually… where you hail from, where you studied, along with any other musical experiences you’d like to share?
Laura grew up in West Hartford, Connecticut, and started to play the cello around the age of nine, influenced by her younger sister who had picked up the cello shortly before her. Laura continued on to do an undergraduate music degree at Boston University and then moved to New York to do a Masters at the Mannes School of Music.
Rupert grew up on the other side of the world, in Canberra, Australia, and was similarly influenced to start playing the guitar after his older brother brought home a classical guitar from his high school. Rupert did his undergraduate degree at the Australian National University, before moving to New York City (coincidentally in the same year as Laura), to do a Masters at the Manhattan School of Music, and then continued on to an Artist Diploma at Yale University. Both siblings have gone on to have successful careers in fields completely unrelated to music.
NYC Classical Guitar Society. Photograph by Harold Levine.
TS: How did you meet? How soon after meeting did the idea of a duo come to mind? Who coined the unique name of your ensemble?
Although we both moved to New York City in the year 2004, we didn’t meet until 2009, when we met backstage at a concert in which we were both playing but on different pieces. It was then still another couple of years before we started dating, after bumping into each other again at a party. We were dating before ever playing a note together, but found that we were both busy traveling and performing with other ensembles and projects, and that we were often like ships in the night, not seeing each for days or weeks on end. So we decided to put together a program both in order to play music together, but also so that we could spend time together on the road. The name at first was a tongue-in-cheek working title, but then we never came up with a better ensemble name and it stuck. We always enjoy the audience response to hearing our ensemble name announced (usually a chuckle or two, and even the occasional groan).
TS: How long did it take to come up with varied repertoire that distinguishes Boyd Meets Girl? How do you go about creating your distinct arrangements?
When we started putting together a program, we quickly realized two things: Firstly, there is a very limited repertoire originally written for cello and guitar, and of that repertoire not a lot really spoke to us. Secondly, our two instruments together are capable of playing such a diverse range of repertoire. We have always enjoyed exploring new and different repertoire, and playing chamber music at the intersection of different genres. To that end we’ve loved making arrangements of works from Bach to Beyoncé, and anything in between. Typically we have made our own arrangements together with instruments in hand, and using a healthy amount of trial and error to see how best to make a piece work on our combination of instruments. We’ve also been fortunate to have a few composers write original works and arrangements for us, and we are thrilled to announce that the Brazilian composer Clarice Assad is currently writing a new double concerto for us that will be premiered in February 2024!
Performing aboard a raft at the Moab Music Festival in Utah. Photograph courtesy of Boyd Meets Girl
TS: What have been some of your most memorable concert experiences and performance locales? How far and wide has Boyd Meets Girl toured?
We feel really lucky to have been able to travel the world playing concerts together over the past 10 years. We have given performances from as far away as Kathmandu, Nepal, to Hawaii, and have performed all throughout the US and in every state and territory in Australia. Some of the more exotic and memorable concert experiences we have had include performing at the Moab Music Festival in Utah last year, where we were the performers for a three-day rafting excursion. The expedition included 12 guests and 4 rafting guides, and we gave performances on the rafts while on the river, at the campsites in the evenings, and at an incredible natural grotto, which had some of the best acoustics of any “concert hall” in which we have ever played. Another memorable experience was performing at an open-air concert in Janakpur, Nepal, in front of a crowd of thousands, and a similarly large number of giant grasshoppers who joined us on stage (occasionally jumping on to us and our instruments).
TS: Does your Boyd Meets Girl schedule allow time for additional musical activities, solo gigs, playing in orchestras and other musical ensembles, etc.?
Although Boyd Meets Girl is a large focus of what we do, we both enjoy playing in other groups. Laura has toured as a member of the popular chamber ensembles Eighth Blackbird, Break of Reality and Sybarite5, and plays in a string quartet called the Overlook. Rupert has released a number of solo albums, and also enjoys performing solo recitals and with his other duo, The Australian Guitar Duo. In addition to our work as performers we also curate a concert series called GatherNYC, held on Sunday mornings at the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan.
Photograph by Dario Acosta.
TS: Tell us more about GatherNYC.
GatherNYC started in the spring of 2018, and we have since presented nearly 100 shows. The concert experience lasts for one hour, is mostly music, but also includes a brief spoken word segment, often by winners of the popular Moth StorySLAM, and a two-minute celebration of silence. The concert format was inspired by a series inAlbuquerque, NM, called Chatter, at which we have both played numerous times over the years. We love the community that has flourished around Chatter and meets each week to celebrate music, and wanted to bring the same sense of joy and nourishment to New York.
TS: What are some of your other interests when not performing or arranging?
Between performing, arranging and curating GatherNYC, we don’t really have a lot of spare time. And to add to the mix, we have a four year-old son, who commands most of that free time. But even after two decades living in New York City, we both still love the energy of the city, and enjoy any opportunity to explore museums, concerts and other cultural events. We are also avid travelers, so we relish the chance to be on tour and simultaneously share our music and explore the world.
TS: Can you tell us what future projects and adventures are in the offing for Boyd Meets Girl?
The next most exciting project for us is the new double concerto being written for us by Clarice Assad, which we will premiere in February next year. Following that, we are starting to plan for another recording. Our most recent album, Songs of Love & Despair, was released last year, and was conceived, arranged and recorded during the pandemic. It contains the music we felt compelled to play inside the four walls of our apartment when we weren’t able to perform or travel more than a few miles from our home. While it was a difficult time for us all, the music does skew more to the side of love than despair, and is a mix of repertoire from some gorgeous Debussy and buoyant Boccherini through to a work from Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, written when he was in a prisoner of war camp during WWII. For our next album we are hoping to release an album of new works written and/or arranged for us.
TS: Thank you again for joining us — and for all that you do to keep the concertgoing experience vital and engaging! We look forward to showing you a grand time on Lake George!
We can’t wait to perform at The Sembrich, and spend some time at Lake George. We just hope not to fall in!