The award-winning artist retraces the origins of her masterpiece album, reflecting on nature, coexistence between cultures and social media
Interviewing Loreena McKennitt is a bit like immersing yourself in one of those ancient hard cover books, the ones that can captivate you by telling you about enchanted lands, spirituality and art. Those with a gothic flavour, with a thousand facets to discover and mix. His courtly and celestial timbre, his ability to reach the highest notes with extreme naturalness are the perfect soundtrack to transport the listener to distant times and places.
World icon of Celtic music, the multi-platinum Canadian singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt (over sixteen million albums sold), winner of awards and honours, returns to rediscover (or discover for the first time), after thirty years, one of her most memorable albums.
On October 9, 2026, it will be released “The Mask and Mirror Definitive Edition”celebrating the original 1994 album with an exclusive deluxe edition: two CDs, a DVD, an audio Blu-ray and a 32-page booklet with a collection of exclusive and previously unreleased materials.
The album’s release will be accompanied by a tour of Canada in the fall of 2026 and Europe in the spring of 2027.
“The Mask and Mirror” he has always been acclaimed for his musical eclecticism: Spanish, Celtic, medieval, Moroccan and Renaissance influences. Lyrically, he gives voice to the works of William Butler Yeats and San Giovanni da Croce, concluding with “The Tempest” by William Shakeaspere.
An artist capable of drawing inspiration from everything that surrounds her: every encounter transforms into emotion, every journey into musical contamination, every reading into an adaptation of popular songs.
INTERVIEW LOREENA MCKENNITT
In “The Mask and Mirror” and in all your albums, you merge Celtic mysticism, Sufism and medieval Catholicism. What is your relationship with religion, understood as spirituality in the broadest sense of the term?
“I have always been fascinated by the various paths of exploration of spirituality, that aspect of our being that transcends the physical dimension. As for me, one of my main spiritual points of reference is the natural world. Being of Celtic origins, this is not surprising, it is an exclusive trait of the Celts. However they, like many indigenous peoples, had a deep connection with nature and instinctively “knew” that their destiny depended on it; they knew that every form of life sprang from there and returned there.”
What was the song that most excited you to reinterpret thirty years later?
“As for The Mask and Mirror, I think it could be Two Trees, based on one of my favorite poems by William Butler Yeats. As I perform it, I reflect on the state of the natural world and the importance and companionship that trees offer us on this planet.”
In 1994 you wrote that the mirror can be both a door to the liberation of the soul and a tool for reflecting our inner image. If you had to redefine the concept of a mirror today – in the age of social media – how would you describe it?
“On the one hand, with concern. There is no doubt that addictive and unregulated tools, such as social media and artificial intelligence, have profoundly altered the perception of who we are, how we see ourselves, who others really are and what our place in the world is. Our brains and our beings – our souls – are made for contact and relationships between human beings. My hope and prayer are that we will soon overcome this technological invasion.”
You stated: “I invite those who follow me to join me in the stories behind my songs, in search of the universal teachings and experiences we all share.” What are the most profound lessons of this album? Have they changed over these thirty years?
“One of the things I feel I have learned, traveling and meeting so many people around the world, is that human beings are essentially the same everywhere. They need to be loved, to feel part of something and to be able to exercise their self-determination… and that we work better when we act with humility and gratitude. Furthermore, under the right conditions, people from different cultural and religious traditions can coexist in an enriching way. Living in Canada, it is an experience that we live positively, even if the instrumental use of social media sometimes puts this reality to the test.”
Throughout your career you have performed in venues with extraordinary atmospheres: Carnegie Hall in New York, Royal Albert Hall in London, the Alhambra Palace in Granada and the Acropolis in Athens. Is there a stage you’ve never played on that you’d like to hit?
“There is something really special about performing at sites of great historical importance. I think of our performances at the Greek theater in Taormina, the Acropolis in Athens or the Alhambra in Spain. As artists, we feel the history beneath our feet and, without a doubt, these settings fit perfectly with the historical resonance present in some of my music. At the moment I would say no, but simply because there are so many wonderful historical sites around the world that would be wonderful to perform in, that I can’t single out one in special!”
And how Loreena sings in The Mystic’s Dreamthe album’s opening track:
“The road now leads to the mountain high, the road now leads to the sea. And we will go where the road may lead, to be what we will be.”
“The road now leads to the high mountain, the road now leads to the sea. And we will go wherever the road leads us, to be what we will be.”
