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Artist Spotlight: Dr. Joyce Jones

In this edition of 65 Stories Celebrating 65 Years, our Artist Spotlight features Dr. Joyce Jones, a renowned educator and performer, who played many concerts on Rodgers organs and had a Rodgers organ with pipes in her home. 

Dr. Joyce Jones (1933-2022) had an astonishing career that spanned seven decades and performances in all 50 states and abroad. She was the first woman to perform on the organ at the Crystal Cathedral, the first organist to play for the Grand Teton Music Festival, and the only female organist chosen to play with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra at the inauguration of the Ruffatti organ in Davies Symphony Hall. She was a featured performer at AGO regional and national conventions, including the 1996 Centennial National Convention in New York City. Dr. Jones was well-known for her breathtaking organ performances which showcased her dazzling pedal technique in virtuosic works such as the Flight of the Bumble Bee.

Joyce Jones devoted her professional life to making friends for the organ, through community concerts, organ dedications, children’s concerts, and “Access to Music” programs. She has been widely acclaimed as the only organist ever to win the prestigious G.B. Dealey Award since making her debut with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Dr. Jones was the Joyce Oliver Bowden Professor of Organ and Organist in Residence at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, from 1969 until her retirement in 2012. Many of her former organ students now are esteemed organists in prominent recital, academic, and church careers. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas and a Master of Sacred Music degree in composition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. She was a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Dr. Jones was perhaps the greatest proponent of the American Guild of Organists’ Pipe Organ Encounters program for youth, having directed and hosted more POEs than any other person. AGO Director James Thomashower said, “Dr. Jones enjoyed a long and productive career as a performer and academician. She was a lifelong ambassador for the organ, and a truly dedicated, indefatigable proponent of teaching young people how to play the organ. Dr. Jones made an enormous, very positive difference in the lives of countless students including current and former members of the profession.”

Dr. Jones was a composer of numerous published works, including the organ method King of Instruments, and recorded for Word, Rosenhaus, and Motette Records.

 She was a dear friend of many Rodgers staff and dealers who sponsored her for organ celebration concerts.