Biography
Johanna Wienholts is a harpist and educator known for her enthusiasm about the harp and all the versatility the instrument offers. She is currently on the string faculty at University of Wisconsin’s Mead Witter School of Music and Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. Johanna was named Principal Harpist of the Madison Symphony Orchestra in 2017. She regularly performs with Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and has been a featured soloist at the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Wisconsin Public Radio.
Johanna holds a bachelor's degree in classical harp performance from University of Toronto and a graduate degree in performance from Manhattan School of Music. She attended Interlochen Arts Academy where she studied with Joan Holland, professor of harp at University of Michigan. Johanna studied in Toronto with the renowned Judy Loman, one of the last pupils of Carlos Salzedo, a founder of the modern harp technique.
Before moving to Madison, Johanna was a freelance harpist in New York City and Toronto and has had opportunities to perform with orchestras all over the United States and Canada. She is an avid performer of both the standard symphonic repertoire as well as contemporary music, having been called to perform with numerous contemporary ensembles in New York. She has recorded for musical artists of other genres and has been featured on hip-hop, pop, and folk albums.
Johanna belongs to Beyond Artists, a coalition of artists that donates a percentage of their concert fees to organizations they care about. She supports The Sentencing Project, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin and Environmental Defense Fund through her performances.
In addition to her life as a performer, Johanna is a passionate harp teacher and enjoys passing on the lessons and technique she has learned to the next generation of harpists. She is interested in broadening the classical canon and encourages students to explore a diverse selection of repertoire. When Johanna isn’t behind a harp, you can find her sewing funky clothes, painting, cooking (experimentally of course), renovating her east-side home, or outside in the vegetable garden with her husband and rescue dog, Laney.
