Article Contributed by Girlie Action Media
Published on 2026-10-11
Today, internationally award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Loreena McKennitt releases her The Mask and Mirror Definitive Edition box set.
Celebrating the original 1994 edition by sharing exclusive, previously unreleased material, the box set is a four-disc set mastered by three-time JUNO Award-winner Jeff Wolpert of Desert Fish in Toronto.
Alongside the box set, McKennitt has also shared a captivating visualizer for “Marrakesh Night Market” as well as the Definitive Edition sampler on streaming, inviting listeners on digital services to preview the contents of the physical The Mask and Mirror Definitive Edition.
The sampler features seven tracks, including “The Bonny Swans” album version from The Mask and Mirror, “The Mystic’s Dream” recorded in 1994 at Mountain Stage, two exclusive audio recordings taken from the Avon Theatre dress rehearsal video recording, and three exclusive “headphone mixes” derived from the brand-new Dolby Atmos mix of The Mask and Mirror.
The box set includes two CDs, a DVD, and an audio Blu-ray, all housed in a deluxe hard-back book. Featured materials include McKennitt’s unreleased 30-minute video from NPR’s Mountain Stage as well as the video of the complete and restored 30-minute Avon Theatre performance.
The new deluxe limited edition provides a rich listening experience and invites listeners to delve deeply into this seminal work, which shines new light on a major turning point in McKennitt’s multi-platinum career.
It also contains a 32-page booklet featuring the album’s original artwork, sleeve notes and memorabilia from 1994 and 1995, including photographs, interviews, a dress rehearsal and audio performances, much of it previously unpublished, as well as a four-part personal essay narrated by McKennitt where she reflects on the travels that inspired the songs, the album’s unique recording circumstances, the international tour that followed, and what it all means to her now.
Additionally, three new colored vinyl titles are available for pre-order from the official Loreena McKennitt store today with a November 13 release date. The three new titles are To Drive The Cold Winter Away pressed on 140g Lothlorian green vinyl, Lost Souls pressed on 140g mimosa marble vinyl, and The Road Back Home pressed on 140g green marble vinyl.
The package was designed by GRAMMY Award-winner Jeri Heiden of SMOG Design, Inc., Los Angeles.
The new release is the second installment in an ongoing series of definitive editions celebrating the highlights of McKennitt’s recording career to date; The Visit Definitive Edition was released in 2021.
Order The Mask and Mirror Definitive Edition:
HERE
Watch “Marrakesh Night Market”:
HERE
Loreena McKennitt’s eclectic Celtic blend of pop, folk and world music has resulted in sales of more than 16 million albums worldwide. Her recordings have achieved Gold, Platinum and multi-Platinum status in 15 countries over four continents.
She is a two-time GRAMMY Award nominee, a two-time JUNO Award winner, and a Billboard International Achievement Award winner. She has performed in some of the world’s most storied and historic concert venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain, and the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
She has performed for dignitaries worldwide including the late Queen Elizabeth II, His Majesty King Charles III, and other heads of state.
Recent honours include promotion from Member of the Order of Canada in 2004 to Officer of the Order of Canada in 2026, promotion from Chevalier to Officier L’Ordre des Arts et Lettres in France in 2026, and her inductions into the Canadian Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2023 and Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2025.
From Ireland to France to Morocco, the Canadian singer-songwriter chases signals of poetry, religion, migration, and cultural exchange across centuries.
“Following the history of the Celts and weaving that back into the music makes the recording the equivalent of travel writing,” McKennitt says, describing the philosophy that has guided her work. “My curiosity about the history of the Celts has never ceased, and as I learn the people listening get to learn too.”
In the hands of McKennitt, that musicological approach metamorphoses into the celestial beauty of albums like The Mask and Mirror — the beloved and critically acclaimed 1994 record now being released as a 30th anniversary reissue.
As the years have passed, the depth of the album has only expanded, a meditation on what is hidden and revealed behind the masks we wear and the common ground beneath vastly different cultures.
McKennitt acknowledges the personal relevance of The Mask and Mirror in her distinguished, decades-long career.
“By curating and sharing this new edition with collectors and enthusiasts to celebrate the 30th anniversary of our original release, I am inviting the faithful, the curious, and hopefully a new generation of listeners to accompany me into the music and the stories behind the songs in a quest to find the lessons, the commonalities and universal experiences we all share.”
Looking back on the album, McKennitt returns to a speech from Shakespeare’s The Tempest. As the last track of The Mask and Mirror, Prospero’s question of whether there is something behind the masks we wear, or whether we might instead recognize ourselves in one another, continues to strike a chord for McKennitt.
“There are always masks, but behind them there are certain realities, certain commonalities,” she reflects.
Three decades later, those commonalities have become part of the album’s legacy, a cultural crossroads that has allowed countless listeners to encounter places they may have never even imagined — and, perhaps more importantly, to encounter one another.
