Diversability music series: Molly Joyce on her "Anatomy is Destiny"

Watch my interview with expanded music composer Molly Joyce on her piece "Anatomy is Destiny" Anatomy is Destiny was composed for physically-disabled musicians Adrian Anantawan
(violin) and Leigh McAllister (piano). As a disabled musician myself, it is rare to find
collaborators that have such shared experiences, in attempting to navigate our
different physicality and musicality. Therefore with this work, Molly explored the violin and
piano parts progressing from restricted to free and open material. For Molly, this
represents the gradual embrace of disability, especially physical, as something that can
be viewed as restrictive and evolving into embracive. Additionally, the piano eventually
takes over the beginning intervals in the violin, representing the continual intertwining
and shared experience of physical disability despite the innate divergences.
Anatomy is Destiny was commissioned by Adrian Anantawan and Live Arts Boston, and
written in the Winter/Spring of 2022 in Omaha, NE. The work premiered in April 2022
at Shalin Liu Performance Center at Rockport Music.
Molly Joyce work is concerned with disability as a creative source. She has an impaired left hand from a previous car accident. The primary vehicle in her pursuit is her electric vintage toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay that suits her body and engages her disability on a compositional and performative level. She is currently a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia, focusing on Composition and Computer Technolog
Molly’s creative projects have been presented and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, TEDxMidAtlantic, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Bang on a Can Marathon, Danspace Project, Americans for the Arts, National Sawdust, Music Academy of the West, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, National Gallery of Art, Classical:NEXT, and featured in outlets such as Pitchfork, eBay, Red Bull Radio, WNYC’s New Sounds, and I Care If You Listen. Her compositional works have been commissioned and performed by ensembles including the Vermont, New World, New York Youth, Pittsburgh, Albany, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestras, as well as the New Juilliard, Decoda, Contemporaneous ensembles, and Harvard Glee Club. She has also written for publications 21CM, Disability Arts Online, Women in Foreign Policy, and is a member of the Americans for the Arts’ Artists Committee.