December 19, 2025

GatherNYC is one of the most exciting classical concert series in New York, a project of MSM classical guitar alumnus Rupert Boyd (MM ’06) and his wife, cellist Laura Metcalf. Both musicians have enjoyed international acclaim individually as well as with their duo, ‘Boyd Meets Girl.’

Read our Q&A with Rupert below.

ABOUT RUPERT BOYD

At the age of 22, Australian classical guitarist Rupert Boyd left his home country for the first time, bound for New York City with just a suitcase and a guitar, not knowing a single person in North America — to study at Manhattan School of Music with David Leisner. It was an adventure that proved fortuitous both professionally and personally: Since graduating, Boyd has had a rigorous performance schedule spanning four continents and released three solo albums to rave reviews from such publications as Classical Guitar Magazine, This is Classical Guitar, and American Record Guide. He and his cellist wife Laura Metcalf formed the duo Boyd Meets Girl which has enjoyed enthusiastic reviews from Gramophone and Classical Guitar Magazines, several million streams, international demand, and a signature double concerto.

Boyd and Metcalf manage their busy careers while producing one of the most distinctive concert series in New York: GatherNYC, that takes place at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD).

31 performances make up the 2025–26 season, all taking place on Sunday mornings. The series has drawn in a steady stream of both new listeners and returning concertgoers who value the high musical standards of the series’ programming, as well as the welcoming community the series has generated.

Why did you and Laura start GatherNYC?

In 2018, my wife Laura Metcalf and I founded GatherNYC as a way to give back to our community in NYC, a city we have both called home now for over 20 years, by creating a welcoming, Sunday morning series around the celebration of music. To date we have held over 135 performances in the GatherNYC series, and the model and format comes from a series in Albuquerque, New Mexico called Chatter ABQ, at which we have both performed numerous times over the years.

Like Chatter ABQ, our Sunday morning concerts are one hour in length; the concert is mostly music but also features a short storytelling component and a brief celebration of silence. Before the concert we serve complimentary coffee and pastries, and our concerts evoke the community and spiritual nature of a religious service, but at GatherNYC, the only religion is music. Each concert features different artists and storytellers, and we feel very fortunate and proud to have presented such artists as clarinetist Anthony McGill, violinist Rachel Barton Pine, the Juilliard, Brentano, Attacca and Dover String Quartets, The Knights, and singer-songwriter-cellist superstar Laufey, just to name a few.

What are the most important and/or unique qualities of the series you cultivate? What do you foresee in GatherNYC’s future? A related question that you can address if you wish: What aspects of GatherNYC do returning audience members cite most often?

In addition to presenting classical chamber music at the highest level, we relish in the community we are developing at GatherNYC. The coffee and pastries served before the show give our regular attendees a chance to catch up and allows for newcomers to be welcomed to the series. Each concert features a different artist or ensemble, and we love to present the gamut of what is considered classical chamber music in this day and age. This season we are presenting a vast range of music from early music ensembles playing renaissance and baroque works, through living composer-performers, an accordion duo, a brass quartet, etc. We also enjoy presenting groups that explore the boundaries of classical and classical adjacent music, with such artists including Curtis Stewart, Yasmin Williams, Empire Wild, and Laura’s and my cello and guitar duo Boyd Meets Girl, in which we perform music by Ravel, Messiaen, J.S. Bach, alongside virtuosic arrangements of The Beatles, Radiohead, Stevie Wonder, etc.

This season we are having 31 successive Sunday morning concerts, from October through May, and one of our future goals will be to have GatherNYC held every Sunday throughout the year. What our returning audience members appreciate about GatherNYC is the regularity and ritual of it taking place every Sunday morning. Also, while they may not be familiar with any particular group, they have come to trust that we are always presenting artists of a very high standard, and they attend knowing that they will enjoy the show. When the concert is done at 12pm, they can go out to brunch or enjoy the rest of their Sunday knowing that they’ve started the day doing something cultural and uplifting.

There are 13 MSM alumni and several more MSM constituents in GatherNYC’s season this year! What does this fact bring to your mind?

There are? I didn’t know, but that is great! MSM alumni are everywhere. Especially as it is now getting to be 20 years since I graduated from MSM, it’s really heartening to follow the careers and successes of my fellow classmates and other MSM graduates. It is interesting too, being a relatively small industry, how the connections we form as students do often continue and become a large part of our network throughout our professional careers.

One of your career highlights so far is the premiere last year of ANAHATA, a double concerto written for you and Laura by Clarice Assad, with the Hartford Symphony, which you have performed with the Fairfax and Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestras. Can you discuss the genesis of the piece and which aspects of the work you feel are specific to Boyd Meets Girl?

It is always a thrill to perform a concerto with orchestra, but especially so when it is a piece that was written specifically for us, and by one of the most exciting and interesting composers working today! Clarice’s music is everything one could want in a new piece of music; it’s captivating and exciting, unique but approachable, and she really has a voice and rhythmic vitality all her own. She also comes from guitar royalty, with her father and uncle being the legendary Assad Brothers, and her aunt a fantastic singer and guitarist, and you can tell that Clarice was immersed with the sound of the guitar and surrounded by music in her life from day one. And for us, as a married couple, to have a work written about the complex nature of love (Anahata is a Sanskrit word for the heart chakra), really does make the piece feel incredibly personal and special.

You’re constantly touring, in addition to heading full seasons every year at GatherNYC. Are there any specific upcoming performances you would like to highlight?

While it does make for some serious scheduling challenges, I feel really lucky to be able to have this career touring and performing around the States and the world as a soloist and in my duo, Boyd Meets Girl, while also presenting and hosting as many GatherNYCs as I/we can attend. I’m really looking forward to some upcoming solo and duo concerts this season, including performing a handful of shows at GatherNYC with some special guest artists, but I am also getting very excited to return to the Grammy-winning Sono Luminus studios in Virginia, with multi-Grammy-winning producer Elaine Martone, to record our third Boyd Meets Girl album. This new album is comprised of new works and arrangements that we have either commissioned or made ourselves, and the vast majority of the music is unique to our cello and guitar duo. It’s all really great repertoire, including works Caroline Shaw, Chrystian Dozza, Stephen Goss, Yaz Lancaster, Villa-Lobos, Ravel, Stevie Wonder, Radiohead, and more, which we can’t wait to share!