Joyce Castle: A colleague’s appreciation

By: Paul Laird, Professor of Musicology

aving Joyce Castle as part of our music faculty at the University of Kansas since 2001 has been a ringside seat to watching a force of nature. Joyce is the consummate artist who is always on stage, but not in an artificial way, rather as part of her larger-thanlife personality. Her long career spent singing on opera and recital stages clearly was made possible by her wonderful musicianship, stunning voice, unforgettable stage presence, and expert comic timing. These are not traits that she turns on and off; they are always with her as intrinsic parts, making everyday conversations memorable and lifting the spirits of everyone around her. I have enjoyed interacting with my colleagues over the years, but working with Joyce Castle has been an experience that I will cherish for the remainder of my days. Murphy Hall simply will never be the same without her.

Joyce graduated from KU in 1961 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Voice and then earned a Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music. Her ensuing career has involved singing nearly 140 roles—an astonishing number—including 25 seasons of work at the New York City Opera, 14 at the Metropolitan Opera, over a decade of singing in Paris, and prestigious appearances on many other stages. Her work as a recitalist has included several high-profile performances of music by Leonard Bernstein—including working with the composer himself—and such triumphs as singing at various venues song cycles written for her by noted composers Jake Heggie and William Bolcom. (Her career is described in detail at www.joycecastle.com, an eye-opening summary of her distinguished career.) The good fortune that brought her to KU as Artist-in-Residence in fall 2001 began when John Stephens, long-time KU professor of voice, called her to ask whether she might want to teach at KU. Joyce reports that he was shocked when she said that she might be interested but admits that he probably called at the right time: “It’s my alma mater. I was a certain age.” Stephens sent her some requested information, she came to KU to sing, and then the administrators Dean of Fine Arts Toni-Marie Montgomery and Provost David Schulenberger concluded the deal. Joyce reports “Crazed for music were these people!,” but an important part of the opportunity for her was KU’s commitment to continuing her singing career for a certain period of time during each semester. This serendipitous association has resulted in more than two decades of wonderful instruction for KU singers and many performances around the world by one of the great mezzo-sopranos, identified in programs as a member of our School of Music faculty. It has been a singular, winning combination, one of the best developments that I have seen for music at KU in my 28 years of teaching here.

Joyce’s great work at KU, however, has hardly been confined to the voice studio, her influence on operatic productions, or her own memorable performances. Her title, “Artist-in-Residence,” implies to a music professor a colleague who teaches in a performance studio and goes out and performs, while usually being spared more mundane aspects of our jobs like committee work. Joyce would tell you that she learned about expectations for an academic position from her brother Neal Malicky, president of Baldwin-Wallace University from 1981 to 1999. She took his lessons to heart, and her colleagues on the KU faculty watched her serve with diligence and insight on numerous school and university committees over the years. She surely attended every KU School of Music faculty meeting when she was in town, proving

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Joyce’s work with her students has been phenomenal. To them she is simply “Joyce,” a beloved and respected teacher and mentor.

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herself time and time again to be a superb, intellectually engaged faculty member who always know what to say at a given moment. She is without a doubt one of the KU School of Music’s biggest cheerleaders. We have all learned valuable lessons from her about collegiality, how to support fellow faculty members and students, and how to be better members of our profession. Joyce had little experience as a voice teacher before arriving at KU—just her time as a master’s student at Eastman and a few private students when she lived in France—and we watched her enter a new profession after reaching that “certain age” and become an esteemed pedagogue, colleague, and artistic conscience at KU. It is an unusual story, but this dedicated Jayhawk has lived it day after day for over two decades and we are a better school because of it.

Joyce’s work with her students has been phenomenal. To them she is simply “Joyce,” a beloved and respected teacher and mentor who is a constant presence in the audience at performances and a Murphy Hall legend for her élan and dry wit. My daughter majored in voice at KU and did not study with Joyce, but she and her friends talked about her often, with huge smiles and sparkle in their eyes. Joyce’s own students simply idolize her, keenly aware of the great fortune they have had to study with her and benefit from her vast storehouse of experience. A most memorable moment that Joyce shared with numerous voice students took place in January 2016. As part of her recognition as a new KU Distinguished Professor—a singular recognition—Joyce directed and starred in a production of “Strawberry Fields,” an opera written for her by composer Michael Torke and

librettist A. R. Gurney, that Joyce premiered with the Glimmerglass Opera in 1999. Seeing her performing the opera in the Crafton-Preyer Theater, surrounded by so many KU vocal students in roles and in the active chorus, was one of the highlights of my career, and Joyce considers it one of her own. When asked about her highlights at KU, she answers, “It’s all in one!,” referring to her entire career here. Many of her students and colleagues would enthusiastically agree.

Sylvia Stoner-Hawkins, a private student of Joyce Castle, completed a DMA in Voice from KU in 2010. She remembers fondly her time in Joyce’s studio:

Joyce Castle treated me as an artist. I always felt that she respected my ability and instincts and through that respect challenged me to grow beyond my perceived boundaries. Her wealth of knowledge of singing, performance, and a career in the arts gives her singers the tools to pursue their dreams. Her sense of humor and compassion gives her singers comfort and the courage to embrace their humanity. I am not only a better artist, but a better human because of my time in her studio. Thank you, Joyce.

The bond that develops between a teacher and student can be very special and not easily explained to the outside world. This attachment is perhaps even closer in the case of private musical instruction, where there is an opportunity for not only growth as a musician and artist, but also in other areas: personal traits, confidence, willingness to take risks, and other areas. I cannot say anything definitive about what Sylvia Stoner-Hawkins learned from Joyce Castle besides what she says in the above moving tribute, but I was on her graduate committee at KU, advised her lecture-recital document, and she sang with my early music group. I saw her growth as a person and artist, and I am sure that much of that could be attributed to Joyce’s work and influence. This encapsulates Joyce’s true legacy at KU: the musical, artistic, and living experience as a performer that helped instruct, mentor, and mold her students. We celebrate this extraordinary human being, singer, artist, and teacher who has been in our midst these last 21 years and thank her from the bottom of our hearts.