Joanna Ward

Biography

Joanna Ward (b. 1998) is a composer, performer, and writer from Newcastle upon Tyne, currently based in London.

She was a Junior Fellow at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, learning with Amber Priestley, in 2021-22. She was also a Britten Pears Young Artist for 2021-22. Recent projects have included creating works for the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Zubin Kanga's Cyborg Soloists project, the Aldeburgh Festival 2022, EXAUDI for the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Natalie Burch for her recent album on Delphian Records, Slida Action for their upcoming album on NMC Recordings, and a co-creation project with Newcastle Youth Choir for the Newcastle Sings Festival 2022. Upcoming projects include for the Marian Consort at the Aldeburgh Festival 2024, and for Zeitgeist Online Gallery.

She graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with a Masters in Composition (with Distinction) in 2021. She graduated from the University of Cambridge with a BA in Music (Class I) in 2019.

Joanna makes scores, sounds, and films, very often in collaboration with other performers, composers, and artists. Her work ranges from the relatively conventional to the very open, and recent projects have been additionally contextualised by research around 'anti-work' compositional ethics and aesthetics. Her writing has recently been published by I Care If You Listen and TEMPO New Music Journal.

As a vocalist and performer she is interested in contemporary and experimental repertoires as well as songwriting and improvisation. She notably performs in a duo with fellow composer/perforner Omri Kochavi, and experimental choral collective Musarc.

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Matilda Sykes

Newcastle upon Tyne // London
United Kingdom