Greetings! Joanna here. Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, pianist, music educator, cat mother, and incessant harmonizer.
Quick navigational logistics… Oropendola = my lyrical chamber-pop project, under which I currently write, record, and perform. Projects & Studio Work = several examples of keys/harmonies/arranging work, as well as my previously self-titled singer-songwriter project . Symbiosis = Mirror in the Woods songwriter series. Youth Songwriters Collective = a songwriting program for teens ages 13-18. The rest is hopefully self-explanatory. ;)
Astrologically speaking, I am a Joanna sun/Oropendola moon/Schubadactyl rising. Or Taurus/Aries/Leo, whatever boops your nose. Occasionally human-identifying. Usually exuberant. Too often cynical, though seeking to spread joy, make cool meaningful shit, lift up all living beings & our shared planet the best I can…
Here’s what I do!
play shows as Oropendola
teach, collaborate with, and learn from others: piano, voice, and songwriting lessons / original musical theater devising at the Lucy Moses School / teen choir & youth sing-a-longs in NYC homeless shelters through WIN (Women In Need)
freelance arrange & compose
sing backup &/or play keys with an assortment of groups. some current & past: Half Waif, Samir Langus, Barrie, Rebecca Pigeon, Nicomo, Beccs, Glenn Echo, Julia Mark, etc.
sing with Rosa Vocal Group, an all-female international ensemble that performs traditional Serbian music
host warm, joyful, and only slightly all-over-the-place nights of musical community, when there’s not a raging global pandemic.
the Symbiosis Songwriter Series at Mirror in the Woods in Gowanus, Brooklyn, a collaborative event featuring women & non-binary musicians.
a house concert series titled “A Modern Schubertiade” in homage to the informal literary-musical salons of the 19th century composer Franz Schubert. (We are sadly unrelated.)
Favorite past teaching!
Music directing and creating original musicals with Kids’ Cabaret at the New School of Music in Cambridge, MA (2013-2017)
Founding and leading the Sing What You Love choruses at the New School of Music & the Rock Choir at the Gowanus Music Club,
Teaching music & chorus at JP Manning Elementary School in Boston, MA
Love, Joanna and Moose (my son, pictured below).