About the Lapis Duo

During 2013 a client contacted Carla Boardman and requested a violin-guitar duo for an outdoor wedding. So Carla teamed up with guitarist Mary Ann Matthias, forming the beginnings of the Lapis Duo. Both musicians noted the versatility of violin and guitar in different styles of music and realized this could become a unique offering for future events.

Photos by Tracy Hoexter Photography

Violin: Carla Boardman

Carla studied piano at a very early age, and became interested in the violin at age 10. In her youth she attended many music festivals, including Eastern Music Festival in 1984 and was active in the Richmond Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Petersburg Symphony. While pursuing a math degree at Virginia Commonwealth University, she played with the VCU Symphony conducted by David Commanday. From 1991 to 1998 she played with the Greensboro Philharmonia in North Carolina, serving as associate concertmaster during her last two seasons there.

After moving to Atlanta in 1998, Carla began playing with Orchestra Atlanta and decided to expand her horizons by taking up the viola. She has played violin or viola for more than 1000 weddings in the Atlanta area with various string quartets and duos. In 2003 she started her own company called Boardman Music Publishing, LLC and began publishing arrangements for string ensembles.

Guitar: Mary Ann Matthias

Mary Ann was inspired to take up the guitar at age 14 after listening to Pat Metheny’s album Offramp. Her first teacher happened to be a classical guitarist who was also open to teaching other styles of music.

Mary Ann began studying music at Georgia State University as a classical guitar major, though she later received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies in 1991. She has performed as a soloist and in many different ensembles through agencies such as All Star Entertainment and Axtell productions. Performance work has included solo guitar, guitar duo, and sax and guitar duo. She also performed with Wild Rice Latin jazz band during the early 1990s.

Over the last 25 years Mary Ann has been teaching private music lessons at various stores and schools such as Carere Music and the Lovett School. Though busy with family life, Mary Ann teach still teaches guitar a couple of days each week to a handful of students.

Beyond teaching and performing, Mary Ann also works as a real estate agent and volunteers at a therapeutic horse riding barn. She recently completed certification through PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) and hopes to get students to teach in this type of therapy.