Joyce's Mob: A Musical Portrait of a Family

This study presents the case of Joyce Evans, a well-known Australian photographer, and the musical work that she commissioned from the esteemed Australian composer Elena Kats-Chernin. The work, called Joyce’s Mob, was premiered at the Sydney Opera House in August 2013. In her introductory speech on that occasion, eighty-four-year-old Evans called the work her ‘requiem’. The current paper explores Evans’ motivation in commissioning the work and what processes the composer went through in attempting to write a ‘requiem’ for a living person. The paper traces the process of adjustment by Evans as she contemplates her advancing age and the changes this has and will involve. It also explores the compositional process undertaken by the composer.