Joanna Lau

(she/her)

Joanna aspires to breathe life and imagination into music both as a performer and a teacher, and she is passionate about sharing the enlivening power of music with others. As a flute teacher, Joanna has been teaching for over eight years and has instructed students ranging from complete beginners to advanced. Her teaching philosophy prioritizes guiding students to approach every phrase with imagination and a sense of discovery, such that the process of creating music is always joyful. To equip students with the tools for expression, Joanna places an emphasis on musically-oriented technique and a healthy way of using the body as the instrument.

As an orchestral musician, Joanna has actively subbed with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Johnstown Symphony Orchestra, and New World Symphony. She is also an Associate Member of the Chicago Civic Orchestra. In her summers, Joanna has been a Flute Fellow at Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, Music Academy of the West, National Orchestral Institute, and Round Top Festival Institute. As a solo performer, Joanna was a quarterfinalist in the 2025 National Flute Association Young Artist Competition and has performed as soloist with the Manhattan School of Music PreCollege Philharmonic Orchestra, Metropolitan Youth Orchestra, and Island Symphony Orchestra as winner of their concerto competitions.

Joanna holds a Master of Music in Flute Performance from Carnegie Mellon School of Music, where she studied with Lorna McGhee (Principal Flute, Boston Symphony Orchestra) and served as Graduate Teaching Assistant for the Music Entrepreneurship Dept. Joanna also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Neuroscience with a minor in English from Harvard College. Her former teachers include Cynthia Meyers, Elizabeth Rowe, and Linda Chesis.

Outside of music, Joanna is a Writing Lab and SAT Prep Instructor at Lexington Christian Academy and also tutors academics privately. For more about Joanna, visit joanna-lau.com.