- Stereo Review:
"... highly imaginative playing - flawless technique."

Liona Boyd - Biography

Liona Boyd, known as "The First Lady of the Guitar" has introduced millions around the world to the art of classical guitar through her concerts, television specials, and twenty recordings, many of which have gone "Gold" and "Platinum".

Her grandmother came from Linares, the city in which Andres Segovia was born, and her father grew up in Bilbao, but Liona Maria Boyd was born in London, England. She came to Canada at age eight and gave her first "concert" on the treble recorder as part of the ocean liner's talent competition. At age thirteen she asked her parents for a guitar as a Christmas present. After hearing a concert by the great English guitarist, Julian Bream, Liona was determined to master the instrument. While still a teenager she took private lessons with Eli Kassner, Narcisco Yepes, Alirio Diaz, Julian Bream, and the legendary guitarist Andres Segovia who wrote "I predict that Liona will have a magnificent career."

Liona Boyd completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Performance at the University of Toronto where she graduated with honors and won first prize in the Canadian National Music Competition. After two years of private study with Alexandre Lagoya in Paris, Liona returned to North America and recorded her first album for Boot/London Records. After her debut at Carnegie Recital Hall the New York Times praised her "flair for brilliance."

Liona gave concerts around the globe and had the opportunity to play for dozens of world leaders such as the British Royal Family, the King and Queen of Spain, Presidents of the United States and Mexico, the prime ministers of Canada, France, and Britain, and the Chancellor of Germany, as well as at NATO and Summit Conferences. Invited by Moscow's Mayor Gavrill Popov, Liona became the first Canadian to perform at the Kremlin when she played at an exclusive New Year's Eve Gala, and she was the first performer at the new Bastille Opera House in Paris. Her guitar music filled concert halls all the way from Tokyo, Hong Kong, Beijing, Bangkok, New Delhi, Edinburgh, Paris, Auckland, Frankfurt, Santiago, Rio, Bogotá, Havana, London, to Copenhagen, Lisbon and Mexico City.

Liona made her musical presence felt in North America by performing solo concerts in every major city and often working with symphony orchestras such as The Boston Pops. She has recorded with Sir Andrew Davis and the English Chamber Orchestra, Yo Yo Ma, Georges Zamfir and Michael Kamen. Breaking with classical tradition she toured with Gordon Lightfoot and Tracy Chapman, and recorded with Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, David Gilmore, and Roger Whittaker. She has been a special guest on dozens of American TV shows including The Tonight Show, Today Show, Nightline, and Entertainment Tonight. A highly successful recording career for CBS/Sony Records brought her music to a vast international audience. The Canberra Times in Australia wrote "breathtakingly beautiful playing, the most musically accomplished and technically flawless playing that I have heard from any guitarist."

Liona often performs from her repertoire of original compositions and music composed especially for her. Her playing was featured in the 20th Century Fox film, "A Walk in the Clouds," which won a Golden Globe Award for best musical score, the Hemmingway film "A Dream of White Elephants' and Disney's " A Kid in King Arthur's Court". Liona's virtuoso talents have resulted in five gold and three platinum albums, five Juno awards (Canada's equivalent of the Grammy), five honorary degrees, and The Order of Canada. She is also a five time winner of the Guitar Player Magazine poll for best classical guitarist and has been inducted into their "Gallery of Greats." CBC produced several one-hour specials including "Romancing the Guitar - The Life and Times of Liona Boyd" and "Opening Night." Liona's autobiography "In My Own Key - My Life in Love and Music" became a best seller, while her music videos are frequently seen on Classic Arts Showcase and PBS.

In 2002 Liona pursued her passion for Latin culture and love of the Spanish language. She combined popular Latin rhythms with romantic Spanish guitar music in her CD "Camino Latino/Latin Journey".  It featured dynamic guest performances by Al di Meola, Steve Morse, Jesse Cook, Strunz and Farah( on whose Stringweave CD she had guested), Johannes Linstead, Pavlo, Luis Villegas and Innis. "Living in Mexico as a teenager I fell in love with the country, the food, the dancing and, of course, the music! Whenever my concert tours have taken me to South and Central America I have felt a special rapport with my audiences." In addition to playing solo and orchestral concerts, Liona toured with a "Nuevo Latino" band, and special guest, Pavlo.

After spending most of her life in Toronto, Canada Liona married John B. Simon and resided in Beverly Hills, California for fourteen years . After divorcing she relocated to Miami in 2004 and then to Connecticut in 2007 where she presently lives.

In Sept 2009 Universal Music Canada released a milestone CD called "Liona Boyd Sings Songs of Love"...with Srdjan Givoje, two voices and two guitars. It contains seventeen love songs including"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"and "Baby Maybe", her latest music video.

In Nov 2009 Universal released a second very different CD by Liona Boyd and Peter Bond called "Seven Journeys, music for the soul and the imagination" It has been described as "Vangelis meets Enya meets Morricone."

Liona wrote "Music contributes profoundly to the richness and beauty of our life experience. I feel so fortunate to be able to share this wonderful international language with people around the world."  

Liona often uses her musical talents to support a variety of causes in which she believes. One particular issue about which she is deeply concerned, is the abuse of laboratory animals. Some of the organizations she supports are:

Physicians for Responsible Medicine (PCRM)

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)

Bio  taken from the Sept 22^nd release by Universal  Music Canada of
"Liona Boyd Sings Songs of Love"
with Srdjan Gjivoje ... two guitars and two voices

(John Santana, program director K-Mozart, Los Angeles and programing consultant WQXR New York)

A virtuoso performer and composer, Liona Boyd is known internationally as "The First Lady of The Guitar." Her Gold and Platinum selling records have been awarded the music industry's top honours, including five Junos. Her artistry bridges the gap between Classical and Pop, and she has collaborated with many renowned performers such as Sir Andrew Davis and the English Chamber Orchestra, John Williams and the Boston Pops, Yo Yo Ma, Georges Zamfir, Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton and David Gilmour. Liona has appeared in television specials around the world and has graced symphony halls in the Far East, theatres, community halls, and stadiums across North and South America, opera houses in Europe and castles in England where she has performed recitals for the British Royal Family.

Liona Boyd's life had always been a whirlwind of composing, recording and touring, but in 2003 she was diagnosed with the "incurable neurological disease" of Task Specific Focal Dystonia. She was devastated to discover that her beloved guitar was the cause. Years of repetitive guitar movements had caused her brain maps for the right hand fingers to lose their clarity and the neuroreceptors to smudge. Even a simple arpeggio had become uncoordinated. This was the condition that derailed the careers of many performers such as renowned pianists Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman.

For many years Liona had tried to determine what was going wrong with her fingers until doctors at the The National Institute of Health in Washington, D.C. told her that nothing could ever restore her playing. They claimed the damage was irreversible. She was determined to find a solution and consulted specialists around the world while witnessing her playing deteriorate. In 2003, realising she could no longer perform to her own high standards, she left the concert stage.

Until the release of this CD only a few close friends and family have known about her condition. Seeking a way to use the guitar in a less demanding fashion, and an outlet for her creativity, Liona decided to take up singing, something she had never felt possible ever since she was thrown out of a choir at the age of six. Nevertheless, in 2004 she began songwriting and moved from Los Angeles to Miami. While there she discovered a guitarist from Dubrovnik, Srdjan Givoje, who before coming to the USA had been part of a famous Simon & Garfunkel style duo in Croatia. His voice and Liona's seemed to have a special magic together, and adding his harmonica and whistling resulted in a unique sound. Liona flew to Europe to meet with Djelo Jusic, Croatia's most revered and loved classical composer, who gave her permission to write English lyrics to some of his haunting melodies that had never been heard outside his country.

After relocating to Connecticut, Liona made a CD with Srdjan and her music producer friend, Joanne Perica. With the exception of one song, Liona wrote all of the lyrics and composed many of the melodies. She also persuaded the European publishers of two mega hits in Spanish and Italian, "Abrazame" and "Caruso," sung respectively by Julio Iglesias and Lucio Dalla, to let her write English lyrics to these two songs for the first time. Srdjan set about arranging the majority of the guitar duets and the vocal harmonies while Liona contributed some of the more elaborate guitar parts. Having written poetry since she was a child and being "an incurable romantic," Liona now had a chance to express herself in a whole new medium. She realised that Focal Dystonia, which had seemed such a curse in her life, had actually opened up a new door and had blessed her with her second career as a singer/songwriter. Her "Little Sea Bird" seems an obvious allegory for her own life struggles. Liona still has to contend with Focal Dystonia, and may never be cured, but through painstaking retraining she has been able to make some progress. She writes, "I'm thrilled to have found such a fulfilling way to deal with this challenging condition. Focal  Dystonia has led me on a tough but fascinating journey of self discovery. I've poured my heart and soul into these songs.  I'd like to dedicate them to all those who long for romantic love and to those who believe in their own impossible dreams. I'm also determined to warn fellow musicians who may not be aware how much they can be harming their brain through over-practice."

Liona's affection for melody and words is evident throughout this recording. Her guitar still speaks with the special touch, tenderness and passion that has  always characterized her playing. Srdjan's guitar skills and tenor voice provide a perfect accompaniment. Listening to this lovely collection of songs, we are about to discover a whole new dimension to Liona Boyd.