Other highlights include Adina/L’elisir d’amore for Haddo House Operatic Society; Nannetta/Falstaff for Opera Project; Valencienne/The Merry Widow at St John's Smith Square; and the newly commissioned work ANON with WNO Max.
At UCLA Joanna sang the roles of Susanna/Le Nozze di Figaro, Nannetta/Falstaff, Monica/The Medium, Belinda/Dido & Aeneas, Polly/Threepenny Opera, and Julie Jordon/Carousel with acclaimed directors Peter Kazaras and James Darrah. At the culmination of her formal studies Joanna joined the Seattle Young Artist Program as a guest singing Najade in Ariadne auf Naxos, appeared in an Offenbach review with Opéra Français de New York at the Slipper Room Burlesque Club, and was featured in the BBC Documentary What makes a great soprano? with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa.
Joanna earned full scholarships to attend the Chautauqua Institution Summer Academy for two consecutive summers, going on to the finals of the McDonald’s Aria Competition at the Sydney Opera House, and winning the Otago Daily Times Aria Competition in New Zealand.
On full scholarship she attended the Solti/Te Kanawa Accadamia in Italy with tutors such as Richard Bonynge and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Moving to London she received a Dame Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation Grant for continued private studies, as well as a Solti Foundation Grant. She attended the Academy of French Song and Opera in Toulouse, was a finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Award at Wigmore Hall, and is a Samling Scholar.
Joanna has a varied career and enjoys singing diverse repertoire. She creates recitals often in her home country New Zealand, and collaborates as often as possible to create unusual recitals in interesting spaces - including Debussy’s Ariettes Oubliées in the oldest underwater tunnel in the world as part of the “Totally Thames Festival” in London.
Joanna would like to thank the following organisations for their support:
