Joy Adams

Multi-genre cellist Dr. Joy Adams was raised on a small farm north of Spokane, Washington. After attending both the Eastman School of Music and the University of Miami, she completed her Doctorate in Music in 2016.

Known by her students as “Dr. Meow,” she currently teaches music theory and composition at Naropa University in Boulder, and has been on the faculty of fiddle camps and taught workshops throughout the country. She has made over a dozen concerto appearances and has performed with major artists such as Bruce Hornsby, Ben Folds, Gloria Estefan, Bobby McFerrin, and Chick Corea. Career highlights include touring with Nathaniel Rateliff and Darol Anger, performing on Live From Here with Chris Thile, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, performing at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival with Bonnie Paine (of Elephant Revival), recording cello for the Emmy-award winning soundtrack to Godless on Netflix, as well as on the soundtrack to The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, the Grammy-nominated jazz album With Love by Jeremy Fox, and the recent albums Live From the Swamp (as part of Half Pelican), Trifecta, and John Lowell’s album This Long Stretch of Gravel.

Joy makes her home two miles from Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado with her husband, fiddler Andy Reiner, and their two cats, Capo and Viola.