Polish pianist and organist Joanna Krauze has performed both as a soloist and chamber musician in Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, and Canada. During the 2023/24 season, she performed in both concert halls of the Tonhalle Zürich – the Große Tonhalle and the Kleine Tonhalle – appearing on both piano and organ.
She has won top prizes in several piano competitions, including two special prizes and finalist title at the 10th International Bach Piano Competition in Würzburg, one of the largest piano competitions devoted to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 2017, she won second prize in the Sterndale Bennett Prize Piano Competition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 2016, she received the Mark James Piano Prize from the prestigious London Philharmonia Orchestra in support of her musical development. As the winner of the 2016 Harriet Cohen Bach Prize awarded by London’s Worshipful Company of Musicians, one of the oldest musical institutions in England, Joanna was invited to join its “Yeomen” programme, which supports selected young artists in England. She also won first prize at the 1st International Chopin Competition for Young Pianists in Rzeszów and received a Special Prize for the best performance of a work by Fryderyk Chopin at the 15th International Chopin Festival in Sochaczew. In addition, she was awarded a Special Prize at the 16th Piano Competition in Żagań and another Special Prize at the 2nd Piano Competition in Piotrków Trybunalski.
Joanna Krauze has been the recipient of several scholarships. Her studies in Switzerland were generously supported by various institutions, including the Swiss Confederation through the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship. She also received support from the National Fryderyk Chopin Institute in Warsaw through its “Young Talents” programme. In 2016, she was selected by the Royal Academy of Music in London to receive a full scholarship for the International Mendelssohn Academy in Leipzig. In 2013, Joanna Krauze received a full scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Mount Royal University in Calgary to participate in the “Morningside Music Bridge” programme in Canada, where she was awarded the Stuart Holland Memorial Award, a special prize for an outstanding pianist.
In June 2024, Joanna Krauze graduated with distinction from the Zurich University of the Arts with a Master’s degree in Organ Performance, where she developed her second musical passion under the guidance of Andreas Jost. In 2022, at the same institution, she obtained a Master of Arts in Specialized Piano Solo Performance under the guidance of Konstantin Scherbakov. In 2020, she earned a Master’s degree in Piano Pedagogy from the Music Academy in Basel. In 2018, she graduated with first-class honours in Piano Performance from the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with Tessa Nicholson. During her studies there, Joanna Krauze was awarded the Greta Parkinson, Doris Ethel Blake, and Francis Simms discretionary prizes for selected students on three occasions. In the 2016–2017 academic year, she also studied as an Erasmus scholarship holder at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig under the guidance of Gerald Fauth. Earlier, she graduated with distinction from the Zenon Brzewski Secondary School of Music in Warsaw in the piano class of Elżbieta Karaś-Krasztel.
Joanna Krauze has further developed her musical skills through participation in piano masterclasses with renowned pedagogues, including Pascal Devoyon, Christopher Elton, Pavel Gililov, Krzysztof Jabłoński, Andrzej Jasiński, Kevin Kenner, Robert Levin, Joanna MacGregor, Katarzyna Popowa-Zydroń, Yevgeny Sudbin, Dang Thai Son, and Arie Vardi, as well as organ masterclasses with Michael Bouvard and Pier Damiano Peretti.
Currently, Joanna Krauze is active as a solo and chamber musician, performing both as a pianist and organist. She serves as principal organist at the Reformed Church in Kloten in the Canton of Zurich and also works as a piano teacher at the Musikschule Region Flughafen.