Boyd Meets Girl, with CT native Laura Metcalf, to premiere concerto with Hartford Symphony Orchestra
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Laura Metcalf is the cello half of the cello/guitar classical duo Boyd Meets Girl, and her musical partner, Rupert Boyd, is also her husband. That makes the pair ideal guest artists for the Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s amorous pre-Valentine’s Day “Enduring Love Stories” concert at The Bushnell’s Belding Theater Feb 9-11.
The program, conducted by Hartford Symphony music director Carolyn Kuan, includes the overture/fantasy from Tchaikovsky’s ballet “Romeo and Juliet,” the adagietto from Mahler’s fifth symphony and the overture from Offenbach’s comical romantic opera “Orpheus in the Underworld,” plus a second Tchaikovsky piece, “Capriccio Italien.” The concert also features the world premiere of “Anahata,” a new concerto by Clarice Assad commissioned by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and written expressly for Boyd Meets Girl.
Assad describes “Anahata” as “a musical reflection on the complex nature of love. Its three linked movements explore love’s opposites, interweaving tense passages evoking love’s wounds and melodious harmonies voicing its most precious dreams,” she said. “It traces an abstract romantic arc without literal storytelling; Anahata’s central theme indirectly resonates with the duo’s creative chemistry and personal bond. It merges with echoes emerging from my memories, threads of influence from my childhood in Brazil and adolescence in France.
“These personal ancestral ornamental details form this fabric of sound,” she added.
“Anahata” is a Sanskrit word that can be translated as “unhurt” or “unstricken” and also refers to a heart-related chakra in yoga.
“Hartford Symphony knew they wanted to commission a symphony for us,” Metcalf said, “but the composer was in question. We came up with a short list and Clarice was on it. I’ve worked with her before.”
So has the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Assad’s audacious sports-themed composition “É Gol! For Orchestra and Audience Members” was performed by the orchestra in October 2021, at the first Masterworks concert after the COVID showdown. The Courant review of the concert noted “the lightheartedness” of “É Gol!,” “which featured its composer Clarice Assad leading the audience in rounds of singing and sounds that range from ‘do-re-mi’ to ‘whooshes,’ hums and beatbox effects. For the sixth and final section of the multi-styled work (a tribute to Brazilian women’s soccer star Marta Vieira da Silva), Assad let the audience take a break and handled all the vocals herself, in a jazzy style modulated by microphone effects.”
“She is an utterly unique voice,” Metcalf said of Assad. “We completely trusted her. The process has been great, the dialogue with her about the details. It’s an incredible, powerful piece.”
Boyd Meets Girl received the completed composition in November and has been practicing it for months.
Metcalf grew up in West Hartford, where her father was a longtime classical music critic for the Hartford Courant. He now programs a concert series at the Hartt School. She has lived in New York City for the past 20 years. Boyd Meets Girl performs regularly in Connecticut, including a West Hartford performance last year, but Metcalf calls the Bushnell concert “truly a full circle moment for me.”
Boyd and Metcalf have been performing together since 2013. “We had already been a couple but were traveling with different projects. We started the duo as a side project so we could see each other more often. It became an important part of our musical lives.”
Metcalf said Boyd Meets Girl’s concerts are mostly classical. “Debussy and French impressionist stuff works really well for us,” she said “But we also adapt pop songs, anything from the Beatles to Michael Jackson and Radiohead. With a song like “Blackbird,” we can be faithful, but others undergo changes. There’s also new music, or music we or someone else has arranged for us. There’s not much of a repertoire available for cello and guitar. We try to craft programs that may be surprising but are still accessible.”
When not creatively covering pop artists, Metcalf has played with them, performing live with such legends as Adele, Cher, John Legend and Nas. “My career trajectory in general has been on the edge of classical music. Most of the projects I’ve been close to are the ones that blur the boundaries,” she said.
“This concerto is a huge forward for us. It’s a milestone,” Metcalf added. “It’s the first concerto written for us by such an inspiring composer. The harmonies are so colorful. The sound is thrilling to hear, rich and beautiful, big and lush. It’s for a full orchestra and we’re the soloists. She really intersperses us together. It’s not a taking-turns thing.”
It’s a love match.
Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks concert “Enduring Love Stories” will be performed Feb. 9 and 10 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 11 at 3 p.m. at the Belding Theater in The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. $38-$73. hartfordsymphony.org.
