Johanna Rose
Johanna Rose
Genres: Classical, jazz, roots, neworleans, Gutterjazz neworleans
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About Johanna Rose
There are at least two artists with the name Johanna Rose. 1)Johanna Rose is a New Orleans-based singer, songwriter, upright bassist, and street performer making music that lives somewhere between jazz and the gutter. Her sound—smoky, sultry, sometimes chaotic—walks the line between beauty and grit. With vocals that can cut or soothe, and bass lines that feel like heartbeat and tension at once, Rose builds songs that don’t ask permission. It’s jazz with a crooked grin—rooted in tradition, but not staying there. 2) Johanna Rose the viola da gambaplayer, who is widely regarded as one of the most promising viola da gamba players of her generation (El Español). Praised as “an incredibly versatile musician” (Ö1), critics write that her playing “can be wonderfully addictive” (Fonoforum) and that "she works magic with sound and warmth” (Muziekpodium). Having performed on some of the world’s most prestigious stages—including the Konzerthaus Vienna, Laeiszhalle and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Teatros del Canal and Auditorio Nacional in Madrid, the Gran Teatro de Bogotá, the Quirinale in Rome, Teatro Ponchielli in Cremona, Zaryadye Hall in Moscow, and the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul—Rose has drawn sustained international attention for her virtuosity and sensitivity. “Her interpretation is characterized by great technique, but above all by a degree of musicality in no way inferior to the great masters of older generations,” writes Klassik Radio Vienna. Rooted near Bremen and shaped by studies in Basel, Milan, and Seville—where she graduated with highest distinction -Johanna Rose embodies a truly European artistic spirit. Navigating effortlessly between early music and contemporary creation, she combines scholarly depth with expressive freedom. In the words of Radio France, she is “a truly European musician.” Her second solo album, Histoires d’un Ange (Rubicon Classics, 2019), devoted to the music of Marin Marais, marked a major milestone. The recording was widely acclaimed: “It makes one sit up and listen—though Johanna Rose plays more like the devil than an angel”, wrote klassikfavori. Pizzicato praised the “earthy and robust” approach she shares with harpsichordist Javier Núñez, while concerti highlighted her mastery of the music’s dialogic gestures. “Johanna Rose is someone we should keep an eye on!” (SWR). Radioklassik described the sound of her instrument as “silvery, sometimes archaic, but never smoothed over - angelic? For earthly conditions, simply wonderful,” and SR noted that the album awakens an irresistible curiosity to hear more of Marais at the court of the Sun King. This artistic exploration continues in her fourth solo album, Visions du Diable, which returns to French repertoire and confronts Marais anew through Les Voix humaines, the work he composed for his mentor Sainte-Colombe. The album has been released by Rubicon in February 2026, forming a direct continuation of Histoires d’un Ange. Alongside her work with historical repertoire, Rose actively connects past and present. Her most recent release is a purely digital album of contemporary music, recorded in duo with clarinetist Diego Montes - “a surprising combination, with real potential for new sounds” (Ö1). In several commissioned works, she incorporates field recordings using the urban soundscape of Seville, specifically the noises of the Alameda de Hércules, as compositional material (Ö1), creating new music through her centuries-old instrument. Earlier, with 7 Movements, Rose juxtaposed Bach’s cello suites BWV 1011 and 1012 with works by Sainte-Colombe, accompanied by seven video clips. This project, together with Histoires d’un Ange, received three nominations for the prestigious German Opus Klassik Award. BBC Music Magazine described her work as “the best of 21st-century historical performance… visceral and pleasingly direct.” Johanna Rose performs on a historic viola da gamba built in 1721 by the Mittenwald instrument maker Egidius Kloz. Based in southern Spain, she continues to merge old and new at the edge of Europe, creating what Pizzicato calls “magical viola da gamba playing.”
Taken from Last.fm
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