Joel Ryce-Menuhin

Joel Ryce-Menuhin

Yaltah Menuhin and Joel Ryce: 1967
Background information
Birth name Joel Taylor Rice
Born (1933-06-11)June 11, 1933
Sterling, Illinois, U.S.
Died March 31, 1998(1998-03-31) (aged 64)
Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, England, U.K.
Genres Classical
Occupation(s) Pianist, psychologist
Instruments Piano
Years active 1960–1971

Joel Ryce-Menuhin (June 11, 1933 – March 31, 1998) was an American pianist, who later became a Jungian psychologist in private practice.

Biography

Joel Ryce-Menuhin was born as Joel Taylor Rice in Sterling, Illinois to Joseph Kenneth Rice (1901–1998) and Emily Bours Thompson Rice (1898–1982). At a young age he showed considerable talent as a pianist, attending the Juilliard School along with pianist Van Cliburn as a student of Rosina Lhévinne.[1]

While later studying in London with famed pianist Dame Myra Hess in 1959, Joel Rice was introduced to Yaltah Menuhin, sister of violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who had come to play in the Bath Festival. A year later, after their marriage in America on Joel's 27th birthday in 1960, the young pianists were invited to play together at a festival in California. They so enjoyed this first performance, that they subsequently devoted a large portion of their time each season to joint appearances, playing solos, duets and works for two pianos and television appearances in New York, Paris and Geneva.[2]

In 1962, the duo won the Harriet Cohen International Music Award for their London debut, in a program largely devoted to works by Schubert for four hands. In 1966, they performed the Mozart Double Piano Concerto under the baton of Yehudi Menuhin in Gstaad, Switzerland and other venues in Europe. In 1967, Yaltah and Joel recorded the entire duet repertoire of Mozart in America for Everest Records, the first time ever that this was done by one team of artists. During their annual tours in America and Europe, they gave many charity performances, for such organizations as the Swiss Technical Overseas Relief, for mental hospitals, needy infants in Germany, the World Day of Peace at the Lausanne Swiss National Exposition, and for the opening of United Nations Week in London.[2]

Jungian psychology

The Self in Early Childhood by Joel Ryce-Menuhin, 1988.

Physical illness forced Joel to end his musical career in 1971. During the following years, strongly supported by Yaltah, he studied psychology in Switzerland with the founder of Sandplay therapy, Dora M. Kalff, and he became a highly regarded Jungian psychotherapist.

He wrote several music-related books with his wife, Yaltah Menuhin, and wrote and edited several books on psychology (Jung and the Monotheisms, Jungian Sandplay: The Wonderful Therapy, et al.). He formerly edited the Jungian journal, Harvest.

Personal life

Joel Ryce-Menuhin and his wife were married for almost forty years. Following an extended struggle with cancer, Ryce-Menuhin died on March 31, 1998, aged 64, with his wife by his side. Yaltah Menuhin continued to live in their home in Canfield Gardens, Hampstead, England, where she died on June 9, 2001.[2]

Genealogy

Joel was a direct descendant of Edmund Rice, an English immigrant to Massachusetts Bay Colony, as follows:[3]

  • John Samuel Rice (1879 1955), son of
  • Samuel Gardner Rice (1840 1893), son of
  • Gardner Rice (1804 1878), son of
  • Samuel Rice (1772 1853), son of
  • Nathaniel Rice (1745 1777),[4] son of
  • Phineas Rice (1724 1777), son of
  • Perez Rice (1698 1782), son of
  • Thomas Rice (1654 1747), son of
  • Thomas Rice (1626 1681), son of

Selected recordings

Selected publications

Notes

  1. Rolfe, L. (2004). The Uncommon Friendship of Yaltah Menuhin and Willa Cather. California Classic Books; ISBN 9781879395466
  2. 1 2 3 "Yaltah and Joel". Yaltah Menuhin Memorial Fund website. Retrieved 31 August 2009.
  3. "Edmund Rice (1638) Association Newsletter Spring 2008" (PDF). The Edmund Rice (1638) Association, Inc. Retrieved 2009-03-25.
  4. "Edmund Rice Descendants Database". Edmund Rice (1638) Association. Retrieved 26 August 2010.

External links

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