Joyce O. Maguire - A Life Lived in Music

Joyce Olive Maguire emigrated from England to Canada in 1960 at the age of twenty-four. Already a highly accomplished pianist, accompanist, and music teacher, she had finished two licentiate diplomas in piano teaching and accompaniment at the Royal Academy of Music (L.R.A.M.), and had also taught music for three years at the Holt School for Girls in Wokingham, where she was Head of the Department of Music. Before leaving her native England, she had also been made an Associate of the Royal College of Music (A.R.C.M.), and had been awarded the Silver Medal of the Royal Academy of Music for piano performance. In 1960, she married her life's partner Gerry Maguire, with whom she started a family. The next year, their John was born; daughter Mary followed two years later.

During her first years in Canada, Joyce divided her time between her family and her music. Her lifelong devotion to children's education revealed itself in this period as well, with the organization of a children's choir and instruction at a Catholic kindergarten. In the nineteen years following, she taught piano privately and taught for the Vancouver School Board's Night School for Adults. In 1964, she was appointed pianist for the Vancouver Bach Choir, a position she was to hold for forty years. Throughout this early period, she was also an active volunteer in the community, working as an arts promoter, organist, fundraiser for charity, and initiator of a number of children's choirs. She served as the official accompanist for the Kiwanis Festival's school and instrumental classes, and accompanied the John Oliver High School Choirs, with whom she toured the United Kingdom and United States. The seventies saw the continued unfolding of Joyce Maguire's career. In particular, her work with the Vancouver Bach Choir extended itself to include tour organization in Eastern Canada and Europe, as well as organizational work on the Choir's 50th Anniversary Committee. She was also very active in community service, serving as President of the Bayview School PTA, the Chair of the 16th Vancouver Cubs/Scouts Company, and Division Chair of the West Side of Vancouver United Way Appeal.

In 1983, Joyce was appointed Administrative Assistant of the British Columbia Choral Federation, a title that was subsequently changed to Executive Director. She had previously demonstrated her superior administrative skills as Chair of the BCCF ChorFest '82 Committee, and was to continue developing her commitment to choral music and its promotion as an administrator in the years to come. She received the Willan Award for Outstanding Service to the BC Choral Federation in 1984 and in that same year helped form C.A.C.A., the Canadian Association of Choral Administrators, which was to become a national network to parallel the newly-formed Association of Canadian Choral Conductors. In the year following her participation at the First World Symposium on Choral Music in Vienna (International Federation for Choral Music), Joyce travelled to Hungary where she presented the BCCF proposal to host the future IFCM World Symposium in Vancouver. Within the circle of the Vancouver Bach Choir, Joyce helped launch the first Vancouver Bach Choir Children's Chorus in 1983. This was an especially auspicious year, in that it also saw Joyce establish the Heritage Baby Collection, the purpose of which is to preserve and showcase the skills and care of Mothers approximately 1830 - 1930.

Under Joyce Maguire's guidance, the Vancouver Bach Children's Chorus saw enormous expansion throughout the 1990s with the establishment of the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir (1993), the Anna Magdalena Girls' Choir (1996), and the Sine Nomine Boys' Choir (1997). As the accompanist for the Vancouver Bach Choir family of choirs, Joyce maintained an exceptionally demanding schedule of rehearsal, performance, recording, and touring. As an administrator and volunteer, she served the boards of the World Symposium on Choral Music (1989-1993) and the World of Children's Choirs 2001 (1997-2001). She also served as a member of the Music Advisory Committee for BC Cultural Services. For her outstanding service in the community, she was awarded the YWCA's Woman of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture in 1999. Recognition of Joyce Maguire's work continued with her election as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (A.R.A.M.) in 2001.

At the end of 2004, having served twenty one years as Executive Director of the BC Choral Federation and forty years as accompanist of the Vancouver Bach Choir, Joyce Maguire announced her retirement from those two positions.

By Willi Zwozdesky. Reprinted with amendments from the BCCF Newsletter. This article may be reprinted in whole or in part, acknowledging the British Columbia Choral Federation and the author as its source.