Joanne is the conductor of Voices, and is a singer.
Since recently relocating to Derby, Joanne teaches Musical Theatre to a variety of groups and coaches vocal students on their grade exams and audition repertoire. She also teaches the piano and the LAMDA communication syllabus which includes: Speaking Verse and Prose, Reading for Performance and Speaking in Public.
Joanne grew up in Swansea and first started to sing in ‘Ariosa’ an ensemble led by Penny Ryan OBE the Headteacher of Gorseinon College where Joanne attended and took part in Swansea’s Festival of Voice, where she won prizes for Folk Song and German Lieder and sang as a soloist in the Brangwyn Hall Gala performance.
Joanne graduated from Trinity College of Music in 2005 with a Postgraduate Diploma in Voice, BMus (Hons) and Trinity’s Silver Medal for Vocal achievement. She began her teaching career at Bird College of Dance, Music and Theatre Performance, where she taught Singing, Piano and Music Theatre within the Music Department and school programmes.
She combined this with being a Music Examiner for A Level with the OCR exam board and conducting the Bexley Youth Choir.
After 11 years at Bird College, Joanne moved to Russell House Preparatory School in Kent where she became the Assistant Head of Music and was involved with teaching Music and the school’s choral endeavours including conducting a prize-winning Chamber Choir. Joanne played the piano at all school events and helped coach the singing and dance for their Musical drama performances. She left in July 2018 to have her 3rd child.
Her singing and acting credits include Kenneth Branagh’s film The Magic Flute, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Larina in Eugene Onegin at Jackson’s Lane Theatre, London, The Stepmother in Neely Bruce’s Musical Hansel and Gretel at The Mick Jagger Centre, Woman and Nun in The Saint of Bleeker Street at the Peacock Theatre in the West End, London and the Father in an all-female cast of Hansel and Gretel at The People’s Theatre London.
She has sung the soprano solos of many oratorios and scared works in the UK and America, including Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Regina Coeli and Exultate Jubilate, Faure’s Requiem, Haydn’s Salve Regina, Nelson Mass and Handel’s Messiah. Recitals have included Liederkreis by Schumman, Songs of Poulenc and Debussy, Songs of Frank Bridge at The Blackheath Concert Halls, The Royal Naval Chapel Greenwich and All Saints Church, Oystermouth, Swansea.See more Derby Music Centre staff profiles.
