Melisande “Molly” Pope

Molly is one of those musical prodigies who was composing and performing piano and voice songs by the time she was 7, complete with a thorough knowledge of her complicated chord progressions. Molly can play anything by ear and her mind is full of musical ideas. She was gigging in pubs around Boston by the time she was in middle school. When she turned 18, she headed off to Berkley College of Music, where she honed her composing and started a number of successful bands.

THEN: By 2019, Molly was freshly out of school and “making it”. She had spent 18 months touring with different bands around the world, and made additional money composing for advertisements and film. In the fall of 2019 she moved to NYC to focus on her performance career. By February of 2020, Molly was “living the dream”: she had successfully organized and carried out two mini-tours as as a solo act, and had various weekenders' and small tours planned for the rest of 2020.

NOW: On March 12th, four months worth of prospective income went out the window “just like that”. Even her side jobs as a nanny fell through as parents realized they’d be home and didn’t feel safe bringing in a sitter. Molly remembers that day well, “I took my cat and my guitar, and got on the train back home to Boston, where I've been since. Now, I'm working as a nanny, developing an interest in fashion and selling old clothes online, writing music for advertisements and films again, and desperately missing the road!”

HOPE: It’s hard to have much hope when your career was just taking off and then completely wiped out. A touring career is about momentum, and after COVID, young musicians like Molly will be starting over. But she is resilient and can’t wait to get back on stage, and out on the road. Molly knows the power of music and is continuing to write and record new music from her childhood bedroom. She hopes that the audience is feeling as antsy as the musicians, and that soon they can all gather in a club and let the music and emotions roll over them.

Check her out: https://www.melisandepope.com/about