Career
In 1957 she was a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. She was a principal performer at the Metropolitan Opera, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and in Amsterdam, Boston, Philadelphia, Fort Worth and other United States cities. Wall was the coordinator of vocal studies at Texas Woman"s University for many years.
She was appointed Professor Emerita in 2008 following a teaching career of 44 years at TWU. Wall is the author of International Phonetic Alphabet for Singers: A manual for English and foreign language diction (Pst Incorporated, 1989).
A text which is widely used as a university/music conservatory textbook in the United States. She has co-authored several books on singing, including Anyone Can Sing: How to become the singer you always wanted (Doubleday, 1978), Mastering the Fundamentals: Excellence in Singing: Multilevel Learning, Multilevel Teaching (Caldwell Publishing Company, 2001), and Managing Vocal Health: Teaching and learning vocal health (Caldwell Publishing, 2001).
Joan Wall has performed many roles including:
Preziosilla in Louisiana forza del destino
Carmen in Carmen
Dorabella in Così fan tutte
Suzuki in Madame Butterfly
Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro
Augusta in The Ballad of Baby Doe
Nicklaus in The Tales of Hoffmann
Fyodor in Boris Godunov
1956 – Bachelor of Music, Louisiana State University
Joan Wall was married to Mark Wall. Her father, a Methodist minister, died when she was nine.
Her mother, who sang in the church choir and was the first violinist to graduate from Louisiana State University, remarried Julian C. Hayes, an oil company executive.