"It's wonderful to be so close to these soloists," he continues. "It was quite something to have Simon O'Neill and Christine Goerke just a few feet away from me in our Wagner Gala."
One of his favourite concerts this year was a soloist-free zone. September's Classical Hits with conductor James Judd was "especially good, as we opened with Rossini's William Tell Overture, complete.
"When the Royal Philharmonic in London played it in its Classical Spectacular, we'd just start from the trumpet fanfare and play the famous Lone Ranger bit. It was so frustrating. The three sections before it are, in fact, the best."
Among conductors, Joyce warmed to Simone Young's down-to-earth dealings with Bruckner's Eighth Symphony. "Some conductors are happy to just play through and trust the musicians to self-clean but Simone gets stuck in, points things out, and gets any problems fixed up."
He enjoyed working with Jaime Martin, who presided over last Saturday's tumultuous Rite of Spring. Their paths had crossed in London, when Martin was principal flute for various orchestras.
"In my Royal College days, I was blown away by a Mozart Flute Concerto he played with our student orchestra."
Although Joyce does not miss his former London career after five years Downunder, he does look back to his early days in Norwich with great fondness.
"My first five years on the cello were wonderful," he sighs. "My primary school insisted on a minimum age of 7 before you could learn the instrument but, at 6-and-a-half, I pestered them so much, that the cello teacher took me on.
"I was keen on cricket and football in those days, but sport practices clashed with the orchestras I was in," he says. "Even back then there were choices to make and now I know that I definitely made the right one."
He has come a long way since, as a child, he was bewitched by the Pachelbel Canon; these days, his "all-time favourite" is Beethoven.
"And I hear a lot of Beethoven in Elgar," he says. "There are even a few direct quotes. Elgar's music may not have the pastoral English quality that you hear in Vaughan Williams but there's a lot more substance to it somehow."
Joyce first played Elgar's 1919 Concerto at the age of 15 with Norwich's Wymondham Symphony Orchestra and, decades on, he has gained a huge respect and love for the score. Having studied the composer's original manuscript, he never fails to marvel at "the staggering detail in the writing. Almost every note has something written next to it or above it."
He finds it strange that players do not always follow Elgar's specific directions, because of other traditions that have built up over almost a century. "But," as Joyce ventures philosophically, "at the end of the day, having gone into all the background, one just puts it aside and plays the music."
• Manukau Symphony Orchestra, Vodafone Events Centre, 770 Great South Rd, tonight at 7.30pm
