Joanna Estelle

Joanna Estelle (Storoschuk) is a Canadian composer, lyricist, and arranger, born of Ukrainian parentage. Her music has won critical acclaim from Parliament Hill, Ottawa (Canada) to London (United Kingdom), Barcelona (Spain), Carnegie Hall (New York City), and elsewhere around the world. Estelle studied classical piano and theory with the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) as a young person, but her parents deterred her from pursuing music as a career. Instead, she graduated in Psychology and English (Brock, 1972), then went on to study management accounting. However, her enthusiasm for music never waned. While building a successful career in Canada’s federal public service, Estelle channeled her creative energies into composing songs, studying modern piano, advanced theory, and arranging in her free time. She completed an undergraduate degree in music after eight years as a part-time special student at University of Ottawa, graduating summa cum laude on the Dean’s List, winning the Faculty of Arts Silver medal (2009). She then completed her Master of Music degree at York University (Toronto, 2011) on a full scholarship and completed two years of doctoral studies in composition at the University of Sheffield (UK). She has released two successful albums on Navona Records label, EMERGENCE (2018) and TRANSMUTATION (2023), which won Best of Show as well as two gold medals for composition and contemporary classical music in the Global Music Award competition.