Biography
Early Life
Joy Hall (née Joyce Mary Hall) was born on November 30, 1920 in Raunds, Northamptonshire to a family of musicians, artists and artisans. Her grandfather was a shoe manufacturer whose company, Tebbutt and Hall Bros Ltd, produced boots for the British army during World War I.
Hall began studying cello at the age of six, and at thirteen years old she won scholarships to both the London Cello School and the Royal Academy of Music. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music for several years, winning multiple awards and eventually becoming leader of the cellos in the First Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood.
Career
After her time with the First Orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music, Hall began performing with notable string quartets, among them the Zorian Quartet directed by violinist Olive Zorian.
Hall then joined the London Symphony Orchestra performing several times in The Proms concert series at the Royal Albert Hall, many of which were broadcasted live by the BBC.
She went on to perform regularly for the BBC for over thirty years, starting with the BBC Northern Orchestra on General Forces Radio in 1944.
From 1944 onwards Hall’s concert performances were broadcasted on various BBC stations and programs, such as the BBC Home Service, Third Programme, Radio One, Radio Two, BBC Television and more.
Between 1947-1965 she was a regular member of the Musica da Camera, alongside fellow musicians Harold Clarke (flute), Vera Kantrovich (violin), Cecil Aronowitz (viola), Sidney Fell (clarinet) and Hubert Dawkes (piano). Broadcasts of their chamber and consort music performances were featured on both the BBC Home Service and BBC Third Programme.
In 1962, Hall formed The Delmé String Quartet with Granville Delmé Jones (violin), Jurgen Hess (violin) and John Underwood (viola). After the group performed a series of concerts produced by the BBC at London’s Royal Festival Hall they began to play and tour regularly, appearing in many of the major European festivals, including Salzburg. From 1965-1977, The Delmé String Quartet were featured extensively on BBC radio networks. In 1969 she recorded Ravel’s “Introduction And Allegro” with the group and clarinetist Thea King at Kingsway Hall for an album of Debussy, Ravel and Bax, which also featured the Robles Trio.
Hall’s performances with The Julian Bream Consort included a feature on BBC Television in 1961 as well as two collections of Bream’s recordings - An Evening of Elizabethan Music in 1963, and The Courtly Dances from “Gloriana” in 1964.
Over the following decades Hall continued to perform in chamber groups and orchestras and featured in studio session work for both classical and pop music. Among the contemporary recordings were cello credits for The Family Way film soundtrack by Paul McCartney, as well as The Beatles’ song “Strawberry Fields Forever” from the album Magical Mystery Tour, both released in 1967. For the latter, she is miscredited as “John" Hall on some publications.
During the 1960s and early 1970s Hall was both a member of the English Chamber Orchestra (previously the Arnold Goldsborough Orchestra) and the Philomusica of London (formerly the Boyd Neel Orchestra). She was a frequent continuo player for both orchestras and often performed with harpsichordists Roy Jesson, Charles Spinks and Raymond Leppard.
While Raymond Leppard was both harpsichordist and conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra, Hall recorded with him the entirety of the Monteverdi Madrigals, as well as a live continuo concert series from the Aldeburgh Festival in 1971 starring the mezzo-soprano singer Janet Baker.
Another collection of continuo recordings by Janet Baker featuring Joy Hall (cello) and Raymond Leppard (piano and harpsichord) was later released by the BBC Legends collection in 2007.
During the 1990s, Hall served as a member of The Rasumovsky Quartet with whom she performed on an album of Rutland Boughton’s string quartets alongside the oboist Sarah Francis. Also in the group were Frances Mason (violin), Marilyn Taylor (violin) and Christopher Wellington (viola).
