Joanna has a Bachelor of Music (Performance) from the University of Adelaide and a Graduate Diploma from the University of Tasmania. Her teachers were Associate Professor Ronald Woodcock and the great Czechoslovakian violinist and string pedagogue Jan Sedivka.
As a professional orchestral violinist Joanna was a permanent member of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra (1983-1991), freelance player with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chorale Orchestra, Australian and Queensland Pops Orchestras and the South Australian Opera Orchestra. During her orchestral career she worked in collaboration with many of Australia’s leading string players and pedagogues including John Curro, Carl Pini (founder Australian Chamber Orchestra), Stephen Chin, Loretta Fin, Goetz Richter, Michelle Walsh, Tor Fromyhr, Finton Murphy and Susan Collins
Joanna is highly regarded among her peers as a violin/viola teacher and ensemble conductor, having worked in schools in Melbourne and Brisbane as well as running her own private studio.
Joanna moved to Armidale to take up the position of Head of Strings at the New England Conservatorium of Music in January 2015. She has had great success with her Year 12 HSC students receiving Encore nominations and acceptance into tertiary institutions for performance degrees.
Joanna has extensive experience in orchestral string training and performance in youth orchestras. She conducts the Armidale Youth String Orchestra, Armidale Youth Orchestra Sinfonia, Con Brio (an adult community string ensemble) and school ensembles at PLC, The Armidale Waldorf School and The Armidale School. She is a also a guest tutor for the NSW Regional Youth Orchestra and conductor of the Nelson Cooke Orchestra at the annual Riverina Summer School for Strings.
Since moving to Armidale Joanna has been an active chamber musician joining forces with her NECOM colleagues, the wider community of string players in Armidale and the Sounds of Summer Camerata in the Riverina. She appears regularly as concert master of the Armidale Symphony Orchestra, Errol Russell Sinfonia of New England and a member of the Mimosa Orchestra for Opera in the Paddock productions.