Eileen Joyce (1908 – 1991), an Australian Clara Schumann

When she played in Berlin in 1947 with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, an eminent German critic classed her with Clara Schumann, Sophie Menter and Teresa Carreño. When she performed in the United States in 1950, Irving Kolodin called her "the world's greatest unknown pianist".

Her Mozart was described as "of impeccable taste and feeling", she was a Bach player "of commanding authority", and "a Lisztian of both poetry and bravura".

Joyce became even better known during the 1950s, when she played 50 recitals a year in London alone, which were always sold out.

She had often performed two concertos in a single concert, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, she gave a series of "Marathon Concerts", in which she played up to four concertos in a single evening. For example, on 10 December 1948, in Birmingham, she played César Franck's Symphonic Variations, Manuel de Falla's Nights in the Gardens of Spain, Dohnányi's Variations on a Nursery Tune and Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor. On 6 May 1951 at the Royal Albert Hall, she performed Haydn's D minor Harpsichord Concerto, Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1, John Ireland's Concerto in E-flat major, and Grieg's concerto, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, under conductor Milan Horvat. On another occasion, she played Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, John Ireland's concerto and Beethoven's "Emperor" Concerto.

She liked to chang her evening gowns to suit the music she was playing: blue for Beethoven, red for Tchaikovsky, lilac for Liszt, black for Bach, green for Chopin, sequins for Debussy, and red and gold for Schumann. She also arranged her hair differently depending on the composer – up for Beethoven, falling free for Grieg and Debussy, and drawn back for Mozart.

She expressed a new-found interest in the harpsichord, and in 1950 she gave the first of a number of harpsichord recitals. 

Joyce experienced considerable ill health throughout her adult years, particularly severe rheumatism in her shoulders, which at one time necessitated a plaster cast and sciatica.

Despite her fame, her name slipped from public sight after her retirement in the early 1960s.