arts
The Sounds of Joy Around the World
Text by Ellie Simmons | Photos courtesy of Martha Horton
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nternationally acclaimed violinist and local legend Joy Wiener has performed alongside dozens of the most highly respected classical musicians of the century. Joy Brown began making a name for herself in 1936 at only six years old when nationally famed concert violinist Joseph Haber saw her playing for the first time alongside her older twin sisters. After the recital, Haber pulled Joy’s mother aside to discuss the talent he saw in her little girl and to ask if she would be interested in having Joy take lessons while he was in town temporarily visiting his sister. He ended up moving to Memphis and working with Joy for the next eight years. At age 10, she claimed top prize at a national competition performance attended by 5,000 in Daytona Beach, Florida. That summer she was invited to appear on WQXR Radio in New York City. Despite getting lost in the big city with her mother and missing her spot, the station was so excited to feature her in the program that they allowed her to reschedule. During her junior and senior years at St. Mary’s Episcopal School, Wiener was asked to play with the St. Louis Symphony. She says the school’s headmistress at the time, Helen Loomis, was very accommodating of her unique situation and made sure she received all the extra time and attention she needed from both teachers and tutors. “She made me pass tests just like everyone else. It wasn’t
78 | At Home Memphis & Mid South • August 2016
Joy Wiener and Cecile Skaggs
easy, but it worked,” Wiener remembers. Her perseverance paid off when she graduated in 1947 and moved to New York City to attend Juilliard for four years. She also played with the New York City Symphony as a soloist in Central Park, in front of a crowd of 10,000. Wiener’s career took her on a tour of Europe in the mid1950s where she participated in prestigious competitions including the Long-Thibaud in Paris, and George Enescu’s Master Class in Sienna, Italy, which she cites as a most treasured performance. She played one of her favorite pieces, the Brahms Violin Concerto. Afterwards she was approached by the Queen Mother of Belgium and invited to play in the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. Her talents brought Wiener international recognition again in the early 1980s when she began touring the world with Diane Bish for tapings of internationally televised program The Joy of Music, which is still running today after 37 years. Although Wiener retired from her 40-year career as concertmaster of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in 1992, she still enjoys playing as much as ever. Now that she has more time on her hands, she is able to channel the majority of her creative energy towards sharing her gift with the next generation. “If you don’t get kids to play, you’re not going to have a future of music-making. You’re not going to have a future audience. It’s the teaching that has kept me playing— period,” says Wiener. “I would say that’s the thrill that I have now. It keeps me going, keeps me young.”