Molly Joyce

Composer and keyboardist Molly Joyce first drew widespread notice through compositions that confront her personal disability—an injured left hand sustained in childhood—while also creating pieces for other artists across numerous styles. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1992, she began violin studies at an early age. At seven, a car accident left her left hand permanently impaired. Rather than abandon music, she turned to the cello, gripping the bow in her left hand, and took up the trumpet as well, soon starting to compose. She enrolled at New York’s Juilliard School for composition studies and received her degree with honors, later continuing at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Netherlands, and at Yale University. Among her instructors were Missy Mazzoli, Christopher Rouse, and Christopher Theofanidis. While still an undergraduate, Joyce discovered a Magnus Electric Chord Organ, model 391, through an online auction; the toy instrument—with its left-hand chord buttons and compact right-hand keyboard—quickly became her main performance vehicle because it matched her physical capacities. She began writing on the intersection of disability and artistic practice, ultimately regarding her condition less as a barrier and more as validation for music shaped by each person’s distinct abilities. Commissions for her work have come from the Milwaukee Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the New Juilliard Ensemble, and additional ensembles, while performances have taken place at TEDxMidAtlantic, the Bang on a Can Marathon, and the Danspace Project. Joyce releases recordings on New Amsterdam Records; her 2017 EP Lean Back and Release presents two pieces for solo violin and electronics, and her first full-length album, Breaking and Entering (2020), highlights the Magnus organ while addressing themes of disability.