To celebrate the release of a book chapter about Molly Joyce’s work Perspective entitled “Perspective: Identity and Voice from a Critical Disability Lens” written by Diane Kolin in The Routledge Companion to Voice and Identity, edited by Amy Skjerseth, Freya Jarman, Naomi Andre (Routledge, June 2026), ArtsAbly releases an archival episode based on audio interviews with Molly Joyce used to write the book chapter.
You can find a copy of the book chapter on Diane Kolin’s website: https://www.dianekolin.com/publications/.
The archival episode includes excerpts of interviews dated January 27, 2021, after the release of her album Breaking and Entering, and February 27, 2023, after the release of her album Perception.
This post presents the resources that Molly Joyce mentioned during the conversation. The episode will be published soon.
About Molly Joyce
Molly Joyce is an artist whose work explores disability as a creative source across music composition, performance, collaboration, curation, and research. Described by The Washington Post as “one of the most versatile, prolific, and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome,” her music has also been praised by The New York Times for its “serene power” and by Vulture as “unwavering…enveloping.” Joyce frequently performs on an electric vintage toy organ—an instrument she found on eBay that physically suits her body and conceptually embodies her engagement with disability in sound.
Music featured in this episode
Compare and Contrast (2016)
Molly Joyce about Compare and Contrast: “Written for flutist Martha Cargo and cellist Ben Larsen, Compare and Contrast was written in the summer/fall of 2016 as part of the duo’s “Pieces of Eight” project, which commissioned eight composers to write new works for flute and cello. With this work, I aimed to simply have the cello and flute switch roles by the end of the piece, so could essentially one could compare and contrast their ever-changing personalities, highlighting the numerous differences and similarities between the two instruments.”
Watch and listen to Compare and Contrast
Form and Deform (2017)
Molly Joyce about Form and Deform: “Form and Deform represents a continuation in the composing and performing on my favorite instrument, the Magnus electric toy organ. Bought on eBay about five years ago, this instrument is completely vintage and has continued to provide me musical inspiration ever since.”
Watch and listen to Form and Deform
Form and Flee – Album “Breaking and Entering” (2020)
Composer and performer Molly Joyce released her debut full-length album, Breaking and Entering, on June 5, 2020, through New Amsterdam Records. The album features Joyce cultivating disability within the human body through a series of electro-acoustic works written and performed by Joyce on her instrument of choice — the electric vintage toy organ.
Over and Under (2022)
This work was originally performed as part of the Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute MusicMakers Concert May 6, 2022.
Molly Joyce about Over and Under: “Scored for organ and orchestra, Over and Under explores the possible uniform and divergent relationship between such immense instrumental bodies. This relationship evolves so that by the end of the piece, the organ and orchestra have ultimately switched roles, and in order to reach this outcome, the two instrumental bodies must begin in contrasting positions and gradually progress to replace one another.”
Watch and listen to Over and Under
“What is assumption for you?” – Perspective project (2020-present)
Ongoing project featuring disabled interviewees responding to what access, care, interdependence, and more mean to them.
Watch and listen to the Perspective project
Resources related to this episode
Article about Molly Joyce in The Washington Post
Michael Andor Brodeur starts his article with these words: “Molly Joyce is among of the most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome. She’s composed spectral, searching works for orchestra, choir, string quartet and percussion ensemble; collaborated with virtual-reality artists, dancers and poets; and studied with the likes of Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnick and Missy Mazzoli. She also teaches composition at NYU, and this year released her stunning debut album, “Breaking and Entering.”
The full article can be accessed for free by entering an email.
Read the full article on The Washington Post website
Sebastian Ruth and Molly’s discovery of Disability Studies
On the Yale School of Music website: “Meet composer and performer Molly Joyce, whom The Washington Post said is “among … the most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome.” As her website explains, Molly “has an impaired left hand from a previous car accident, and seeks to explore disability through composition, performance, collaboration, community engagement, and further mediums.” Molly’s work has been commissioned and performed by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony, among other ensembles, and she has collaborated with such compelling artists as dancer and choreographer Melissa Barak, dancer Jerron Herman, media artist Andy Slater, and Glenn Kotche of Wilco. We spoke with Molly about her work, inspiration, and more.”
Read the article on the Yale School of Music website
Molly’s toy organ and her TED Talk Going beyond ability
Following a terrible car accident that left her arm disfigured, composer and performer Molly Joyce could have walked away from music. Instead, she learned how to face her disability and go beyond it – creating music that has been described as “impassioned” (The Washington Post), written to “superb effect” (The Wire), and “energetic, heady and blisteringly emotive” (Paste Magazine). At TEDxMidAtlantic, Molly performs on her vintage toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay.
The Perspective project in Dusseldorf
The German iteration of the project features German disabled individuals’ voices and viewpoints, and was commissioned by Kunstkommission Düsseldorf. The project was shared in September 2023 and January/February 2024 via public video ads throughout Düsseldorf.
More about the German iteration in Dusseldorf
Recent related resources
In Feeling: Empathy and Tension Through Disability
Exhibition co-curated by Molly Joyce, Dean’s Doctoral Fellow, Department of Music, and Kristen Nassif, Curator of Collections. Initial support provided by Hannah Cattarin, former Associate Curator.
Is it possible to fully understand another person’s point of view? This exhibition features works by nine contemporary artists that reckon with how we empathize. Stemming from the Greek terms em – “in” and pathos – “feeling,” empathy implies the action of understanding or experiencing the feelings and thoughts of another. Yet the practice of empathizing—being aware of and sensitive to the experience of someone else—can also engender tensions relating to one’s own position and expectations. In Feeling explores the relationship between empathy and tension through lived experiences of disability, highlighting perspectives that challenge assumptions about ways of being and living. The works in the exhibition engage with themes surrounding communication, connection, and rest, asking us to reimagine how we understand each other.
Collaborators and colleagues mentioned in this episode
Stefan Sunandan Honisch
Stefan Sunandan Honisch is a Sessional Instructor in the Department of Theatre and Film, at the University of British Columbia, having previously held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow within the department for a project on the musical life of Helen Keller (1880-1968). His research interests are at the intersection of Critical Disability Studies, Music, and Critical Pedagogy. His first monograph project Vulnerable Virtuosities: Disability in Concert and Competition (in progress) uses a Disability Justice framework to explore how blind virtuoso pianists radically challenge stubborn dualisms of musical strength and weakness, demonstrating that vulnerable manifestations of disabled embodiment intensify the aesthetic and expressive power of musical virtuosity.
Listen to ArtsAbly’s podcast episode 5 with Stefan Sunandan Honisch
Alice Wong
Alice Wong was an American disability rights activist and writer based in San Francisco, California. Dedicated to amplifying the voices and experiences of the disabled community, her career focused on challenging systemic ableism through storytelling, advocacy, and community organizing. A 2024 MacArthur Fellow and 2013 Obama appointee to the National Council on Disability, Wong founded the Disability Visibility Project, an oral history project with StoryCorps.
Learn more about the Disability Visibility Project
Judith ‘Judy’ Heumann
Judy Heumann was an American disability rights activist, known as the “Mother of the Disability Rights Movement.” She was recognized internationally as a leader in the disability community. Heumann was a lifelong civil rights advocate for people with disabilities. Her work with governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), nonprofits, and various other disability interest groups significantly contributed to the development of human rights legislation and policies benefiting children and adults with disabilities. Through her work in the World Bank and the State Department, Heumann led the mainstreaming of disability rights into international development. Her contributions extended the international reach of the independent living movement.