Joyce Sands

Sands, Joyce

Joyce Sands (b Feldtmann). Cellist, teacher, b Clairmont, Western Australia, 6 Mar 1902; naturalized Canadian 1935, d Victoria, BC, 11 Jan 1984; LRAM 1919. Raised in England she studied cello there with Hélène Dolmetsch and 1920-4 in Belgium at the Royal Flemish Cons, Antwerp, with Arnold Godene. She also studied theory and composition privately in Brussels with Joseph Jongen. As a member of the Buysse String Quartet she toured Belgium. She also gave some recitals in Europe before moving in 1929 to Canada to join the newly formed Harisay String Quartet - Vino Harisay and Murray Adaskin (violins), Tom Brennand (viola) - in Toronto.

Sands gave her first solo recital 10 Jan 1930 at Hart House and was soloist in Saint-Saëns' Concerto in A Minor 2 Dec 1930 with the TSO. Besides teaching at the TCM she played 1931-6 in the TSO, organized the Fireside Music Club for chamber concerts in private homes, and founded and played in the Arcorda Trio. She lived 1936-8 in Capetown, South Africa, and briefly in England, where she appeared in recital at Wigmore Hall before returning to Toronto in 1939. She was a member again 1940-5 of the TSO and a teacher at the TCM and played in the early 1940s with the Conservatory String Quartet. In 1952 she moved to Ottawa, where she was the cellist 1953-4 with the Carleton String Quartet, principal cello 1957-9 of the Ottawa Philharmonic, and a member 1958-9 of the New Chamber Music Ensemble. She established another Fireside Music Club and added a concert series for young people in 1965. The club continued until the early 1970s. Her Somerset Chamber Music Club (1975-7) was planned along similar lines but aimed at younger audiences.

On 27 Nov 1984, a memorial concert and tribute was held at the National Library of Canada, where her papers have been deposited. The concert included Elegiac Variations for Solo Cello written in her memory by Morris Kates, whose Three Dialogues for Cello and Piano Miss Sands had premiered in 1977.