Like many musicians, violinist Teresa Joy found herself through her instrument. She’s been playing professionally since she was 12. Music is in her blood. Her father is Esteban, a musician who has been a fixture in Sedona for many years. But she stopped for a few years in her early 20s. “I went into a rebellious phase of self-discovery and going through that transition where you try to find yourself,” says Teresa. During this time, she was also in a troubled relationship. “Then I realized I wasn’t happy.” But then she picked up her violin again.
“Violin helped bring me back to myself, and I didn’t fall in love with it ‘till I used it as a tool to reconnect me to myself,” says Teresa, who described her instrument as “literally my heart.” “After I came to back to the violin, I was just so in love with the expression and the depth that you can go within yourself and connect with yourself that performing all of a sudden was just a part of who I was.” She started off playing classical violin, but now she mostly plays the electric violin. She loves to improv or put on music and play along with it. “It’s a new adventure,” says Teresa. “It’s being in the moment and having a conversation with yourself in the music.” She writes her own music and performs covers. Two of her favorites are Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and “Let it Be” by The Beatles. She’s working on a violin movement project where participants move as they’re playing. She grew up up in Scottsdale, but made many trips with her Dad up north to Flagstaff and Sedona, where she now resides. “Sedona is so incredibly powerful,” says Teresa, who feels inspired by the city’s natural beauty. “Sedona’s been one of the loves of my life, that’s for sure.”
Here’s what you should expect from her performances: “A lot of joy, a lot of self-expression, a lot of uplifting feeling. It’s a journey. Every time I perform, it’s a journey for me, literally,” says Teresa, who feels a sense of peace when she plays and tunes out the world and what’s going on in her head and just plays. “It’s almost like you discover things about yourself. I feel like that journey in a concert or in a performance resonates. It can resonate with other people because we’re all going through the same thing.” − Teresa K. Traverse
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