1. Joan Hilda Hood Hammond was born and baptised in Christchurch, New Zealand.
20 Facts About Joan Hammond
1. 2.
Joan Hammond married his first wife, Edith, then left her and took up with Hammond's mother, Hilda Blandford, by whom he had two sons in England.
3.
Joan Hammond informally added "Hammond" to his name and they represented themselves as "Mr and Mrs Samuel H Hammond" although they were not married at the time.
4.
Joan Hammond was six months old when her family moved again, to Sydney, Australia.
5.
Joan Hammond attended Pymble Ladies' College and excelled in both sports and music.
6.
Joan Hammond studied violin and singing at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney, and played violin for three years with the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra before studying singing in Vienna in 1936.
7.
Joan Hammond won the women's junior golf championship for New South Wales in 1929, and the New South Wales Women's Amateur Championship in 1932,1934, and 1935.
8.
Joan Hammond toured widely, and became noted particularly for her Puccini roles.
9.
Joan Hammond returned to Australia for concert tours in 1946,1949 and 1953, and starred in the second Elizabethan Theatre Trust opera season in 1957.
10.
Joan Hammond undertook world concert tours between 1946 and 1961.
11.
Joan Hammond made famous the aria "O mio babbino caro" from Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi.
12.
Joan Hammond's recording of "O, Silver Moon" from Dvorak's Rusalka was a huge seller.
13.
Joan Hammond was interviewed for the BBC radio programme Desert Island Discs in 1970.
14.
Joan Hammond became patron and a life member of the Melbourne-based Victorian Opera Company, founded in 1962 by Leonard Spira.
15.
Joan Hammond was the VSO's artistic director from 1971 until 1976 and remained on the board until 1985.
16.
Joan Hammond joined the Victorian Council of the Arts, was a member of the Australia Council for the Arts opera advisory panel, and was an honorary life member of Opera Australia.
17.
Joan Hammond was important to the success of both the VSO and Opera Australia.
18.
Joan Hammond embarked on a second career as a voice teacher after her performance career ended.
19.
Joan Hammond died in 1996 in Bowral, New South Wales, aged 84, and was buried in the Bowral General Cemetery.
20.
Joan Hammond received the Sir Charles Santley memorial gift from the Worshipful Company of Musicians, London, in 1970.