Rupert Boyd
Rupert BoydPast Event

Rupert Boyd

Classical Guitarist

Friday Jul 18th, 7pm - 9pm

Doors open: 6:30 PM

In July 2025, renowned Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd returns to Australia from New York City, for his first solo tour of Australia since 2016. The eight-concert tour will see Boyd perform across four states (QLD, SA, VIC, NSW) and the ACT.

Boyd, who has been described as “truly evocative” by The Washington Post, as “a very fine musician” by Gramophone, and “a player who deserves to be heard” by Classical Guitar Magazine, will perform a largely baroque and baroque-inspired program. The concerts will feature works from the past four centuries, including a captivating 400-year-old piece by Kapsberger, joyous pieces by J.S. Bach and his contemporary S.L. Weiss, romantic Spanish works, a lively piece by the young Brazilian composer Chrystian Dozza, and an African Lullaby.

Many of these works are included on Boyd’s three solo albums. His most recent, The Guitar, was praised The Weekend Australian for his “sparkling technique” and described by Classical Guitar Magazine as “an utterly exceptional recording”.

Born in Canberra, at the age of 22, Boyd left Australia for the first time, bound for New York City with just a suitcase and a guitar, and not knowing a single person in North America. He has subsequently become regarded as one of the finest guitarists of his generation, and has performed across four continents, from New York’s Carnegie Hall to festivals in Europe, China, India, Nepal, Japan, Vietnam, the Philippines, New Zealand and every state and territory in Australia.

Although Boyd tours Australia every 12-18 months in his ensembles Boyd Meets Girl, with cellist Laura Metcalf, and in the Australian Guitar Duo, with guitarist Jacob Cordover, this is his first solo tour since 2016. It includes a number of venues with personal significance to Boyd and his family history, including The Robin Boyd Foundation, a house designed by his grandfather in South Yarra, Melbourne, and Arthur Boyd’s property, Bundanon, on the Shoalhaven.

On tour Boyd will be playing a new, 2024 Smallman & Sons guitar, made by the world-leading luthiers Greg Smallman and his sons Damon and Kim, who live in Esperance, WA. Boyd flew from New York City to Australia for under 24-hours last July, to pick up this guitar after it was finished being made.

Speaking about his upcoming tour, Boyd says "I am very excited to return to Australia for three weeks and share solo classical guitar pieces that have captivated me over the past few years. I’m loving exploring different sound worlds, whether that be an early baroque work that was written over 400 years ago in an incredibly different time and place, to beautiful Spanish repertoire which harks back to bygone eras, to lively contemporary Brazilian works and even a lullaby from Africa. These concerts will be a chance to take a trip around the world and through time, from the comfort of sitting on a stationary chair. I hope that all audiences, from the connoisseur of classical music to anyone who enjoys music or the guitar will find something that they love, and which speaks to them from a different time or place."

For full biographical details, audio and video samples, and to download publicity photos, please visit: www.rupertboyd.com

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