Light and Dark
Flute (Doubling on Alto Flute), Vibraphone, and Pre-Recorded Electronics
8 Minutes
About the Composer
Composer and performer Molly Joyce’s music has been described as one of “serene power” (New York Times) and “impassioned” (The Washington Post). Her works have been performed by the New World Symphony, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and many more. Joyce’s output is primarily concerned with disability as a creative source. She has an impaired left hand due to a previous car accident, and she primarily works with an electric vintage toy organ, an instrument she bought on eBay which suits her body compositional and performance level. According to Joyce, “disability informs [her] practice in that it compels [her] to produce work only a disabled body can produce.” Joyce holds degrees from The Juilliard School, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and the Yale School of Music; she has studied under the tutelage of many compositional greats such as Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnik, David Lang, Missy Mazzoli, and Christopher Theofanidis.
Molly JOYCE
About the Music
Light and Dark for Flute, Percussion, and pre-recorded electronics, was written during the winter of 2017-18 between Krems an Der Donau, Austria and Water Mill, New York. It was commissioned by and dedicated to The Midnight Sun Two: Kathryn Hendrickson and Christopher Eagles. On Light and Dark Joyce writes, “Light and Dark attempts to explore and reject preconceived notions of the elements ‘light’ and ‘dark’ in relation to the duo instrumentation of flute and percussion. I had the mission of having both performers switch roles, so that by the end of the piece they have supplanted each other, thus assuming unexpected yet fortuitous positions.”