biography
Joanna Lee is a composer who specialises in contemporary vocal music, music theatre and opera. Performances of Joanna’s works include Tęte á Tęte, CHROMA, Psappha, Orchestra of the Swan, Jane Manning & Jane's Minstrels, Omar Ebrahim, Elysian Quartet, Sarah Leonard, Joby Burgess, Sonya Alexandra Knussen, Britten Pears Orchestra, Robin Michael, Mary Carewe & the Sheridan Ensemble, Alison Wells and CoMA, with workshop performances by BCMG, De Ereprijs and the Fidelio Trio.Joanna's work has been shortlisted for a British Composer Award, featured in Classical Music Magazine's Premiere of the Fortnight May 2010 and Premieres of the Year 2008 and has been shortlisted by the SPNM. She recently received the Stephen Oliver Award, adjudicated by Jonathan Dove, for which she developed the chamber opera Krazy Kat in collaboration with Tęte á Tęte and Howard Skempton. Her vocal compositions have received recommendations in The Singer and Singing - The Association of Teachers of Singing magazines and featured in a Pierrot Lunaire symposium led by Mary King and Jane Manning at the Southbank Centre.
Joanna has participated in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme: Contemporary Composition and Performance course, under the tuition of Oliver Knussen, Colin Matthews and Magnus Lindberg. In June 2010, she undertook a Composition Residency during the Aldeburgh Festival 2010, and from November 2010 to July 2011, she will participate in the Jerwood Opera Writing Programme at Aldeburgh. She also looks forward to a Composer-in-Residence post at Aldeburgh in 2011/2012, composing a choral piece for Aldeburgh Music Club to celebrate their 60th Anniversary and Britten's Centenary. Joanna is currently working with the London Symphony Orchestra through to January 2012, composing a piece as part of their Panufnik Scheme.
Joanna's work has been performed as part of the Ultraschall Festival in Berlin, Aldeburgh Festival, BMIC Cutting Edge Series, Tęte á Tęte Opera Festival and Spitalfields Festival, and includes performances at the Purcell Room, The Warehouse, Britten Studio at Snape, The Spitz and Riverside Studios in Hammersmith, with workshop performances at the Royal Opera House and CBSO Centre. She works as music assistant to Paul Englishby, which has included the music for the Oscar-nominated film An Education, and projects for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Ronnie Scott’s and The Royal Ballet.
Joanna's musical interests began with piano lessons at the age of five. By the time she was eighteen, Joanna had achieved a Performance Diploma and Advanced Certificate on the piano and music theory, Grade 8 Distinction in voice and Grade 7 Distinction on the violin. She subsequently went on to study for a BMus(Hons) degree in composition under the tuition of Joe Cutler at Birmingham Conservatoire and the Norwegian State Academy of Music in Oslo, when upon graduating, she received the Composition Prize. Joanna has participated in extended professional development schemes coordinated by the SPNM, including Writing for Theatre with Psappha, and Pierrot Lunaire with Jane Manning and Jane's Minstrels. Joanna is studying for a PhD specialising in vocal composition under the tuition of Richard Causton and Edwin Roxburgh, which has also included tuition from Sarah Leonard, Roger Marsh, Howard Skempton, Errollyn Wallen, Judith Weir and John Woolrich. The RVW Trust generously funded two years of Joanna’s MPhil study.
