Joanna Fairs-Wu spent her formative years growing up in Adelaide. She was a regular attendee at National Music Camps and a member of the Australian Youth Orchestra. Joanna has a Bachelor of Music in Performance (University of Adelaide) and a Graduate Diploma in Performance (University of Tasmania) studying under the tutelage of Ronald Woodcock and Jan Sedivka respectively. She was a permanent member of the Queensland Philharmonic Orchestra (1983-1991) and has freelanced with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Chorale Orchestra, Australian and Queensland Pops Orchestras and the South Australian Opera Orchestra. Her teaching career spans over 40 years including permanent string teaching positions at Sophia Mundi Steiner School, Melbourne, and Cannon Hill Anglican College, Brisbane. She also ran a highly regarded private studio for 14 years in Brisbane. Joanna has worked in collaboration with many of Australia’s leading string players and pedagogues including Stephen Chin, Tor Fromyhr and Finton Murphy. She has been a tutor for the NSW Regional Youth Orchestra, Queensland Youth Orchestra and Qld Dept of Education. She has been an AUSTA Qld committee member.
Joanna took up the position of Head of Strings at the New England Conservatorium of Music in 2015. Besides teaching over 60 students from beginner to Licentiate level she conducts the Armidale Youth Strings, the Armidale Youth Sinfonia, Con Brio (adult ensemble) and various school ensembles. She has had great success with Year 12 HSC Music Performance students being recipients of Encore Nominations and students’ acceptance into tertiary performance degrees at Griffith University and Elder Conservatorium of Music. Joanna enjoys collaborating with her New England Conservatorium colleagues and the wider community of string players for chamber music recitals. She is the currently the Concert Master of the Armidale Symphony Orchestra and the Errol Russell Sinfonia. Joanna has been the Conductor of Nelson Cooke Orchestra since 2017.