Johanna was born in Berlin in December 1989, shortly after the Fall of the Wall. As the daughter of a young artist couple from East Germany, she grew up in the midst of radical political change and creative playfulness in the backyards of Prenzlauer Berg. During her adolescence in small-town Brandenburg she practiced all sorts of performing arts, from theatre and dancing to playing instruments. Singing proved to be her biggest passion, but having been raised on the breadline, it was never a serious option for her to get into a creative career. Only when she was in her mid-twenties and had a Master’s degree in environmental economics in her pocket, did she dare journey into the unknown but tempting world of music education and workmanship.

In 2016, Johanna packed her essentials on a bicycle and cycled to Norway, where she sought time and focus for music, far away from the distractions of a cultural metropolis.

Johanna developed a passion for playing the hardanger fiddle in the small mountain town of Rauland, Telemark. She spent three years studying and practicing traditional Norwegian music in the department for Folk Arts at the University College of Southeast Norway. Teachers and mentors who have stimulated her musical inquiry at the institute include Ånon Egeland, Anders Røine, Frode Nyvold and Tellef Kvifte. Listening to performers such as Valkyrien Allstars, Sudan Dudan, Benedicte Maurseth and Erlend Apneseth shaped her musical taste, and today you can hear the verve and energy of those performers in her work. She has been a student of Hardanger fiddle master Knut Hamre since 2020.