After all the snow we’ve had this winter, Peterborough Musicfest is giving us something to look forward to this summer.
Nine years after Serena Ryder opened the outdoor musical festival for her first time, drawing an estimated 16,000 people to Del Crary Park, the Millbrook native is coming home to do it again.
Festival organizers have announced the multiple Juno award-winning musician will perform a free-admission concert at Del Crary Park at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 28 to open Peterborough Musicfest’s 38th season.
Now with eight studio albums and seven Juno Awards under her belt, the 42-year-old Ryder — whose vocal delivery has been compared to that of singers like Aretha Franklin and Janis Joplin — has had an illustrious career since she first began belting out songs as a child and then a teen in local legion halls and coffeehouses.
Born in Toronto and raised in Millbrook, a 17-year-old Ryder moved to Peterborough where she attended the Integrated Arts Program at Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School (PCVS). When Damon de Szegheo, a record producer and owner of the local independent record label Mime Radio, heard Ryder sing at Showplace Performance Centre during a set change for a stage production of Gone with the Wind, he approached her about recording.
That led to a limited-run promotional cassette called Serena and, in 1999, her first full-length record Falling Out. She also began performing with bands including Thousand Foot Krutch, Three Days Grace, and Craig Cardiff. In 2001, Ryder was awarded the Peterborough Folk Festival’s inaugural Emerging Artist award.
VIDEO: “Little Bit of Red” – Serena Ryder
After a series of EPs and live albums, Ryder released her major label debut Unlikely Emergency in 2005, followed in 2006 by If Your Memory Serves You Well, a collection of 12 covers of notable Canadian songs and three original songs — including the ballad “Weak in the Knees” that brought her national acclaim.
In 2008, after receiving her first Juno Award for Best New Artist of the Year, Ryder released Is It O.K., which won the Juno Award for Adult Alternative Album of the Year in 2009. The album’s single “Little Bit of Red” won the Juno Award for Best Video of the Year in 2010, the same year Ryder joined the lineup of Lilith Fair.
After touring with Melissa Etheridge the following year, Ryder released the album Harmony in 2012, with its first single “Stompa” a certified platinum hit. The song was used in an episode of ABC television’s medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, and Ryder made her late night show debut, performing “Stompa” on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 2014, Ryder co-hosted the Juno Awards, where she also won Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
In 2017, Ryder released the record Utopia, which included the singles “Got Your Number” and “Electric Love,” followed in 2018 by Christmas Kisses, an album featuring her covers of holiday favourites as well as her original title tune — the video for which was used to raise funds and awareness for the Ontario SPCA, and featured several dogs and their owners from Peterborough.
An ardent advocate for mental wellness, Ryder has shared her own experiences with depression and neurodivergence with thousands of people across the country each year. Her 2012 song “What I Wouldn’t Do” was reimagined for Kids Help Phone’s Feel Out Loud 2023 campaign, the largest mental health initiative in Canadian history.
Through her non-profit ArtHaus Community, she supports emerging musicians and industry professionals, equipping them with the creative, entrepreneurial, and wellness skills needed to thrive in today’s music and media landscape.
VIDEO: “Stompa” – Serena Ryder
Ryder’s most recent album in 2021’s The Art of Falling Apart — which she describes as being about her “journey with mental illness toward mental wellness” — won the Juno Award for Adult Contemporary Album of the Year. Also in 2021, Ryder joined Canada’s Walk of Fame as the recipient of the Allan Slaight Music Impact Honour for her benevolence in the music industry and mental wellness.
As well as opening Peterborough Musicfest in 2016, the same year she was inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame, Ryder has appeared on the Fred Anderson stage at Del Crary Park three other times.
She has also performed twice for Peterborough Musicfest in other capacities, including her last performance in Peterborough, which was a by-invitation-only concert for Musicfest sponsors and guests at the Market Hall in March 2022.
