About me

Winnipeg contralto Joanna Loepp Thiessen is a recent graduate of the University of Manitoba where she completed her masters in Vocal Performance with teachers Tracy Dahl and Monica Huisman. 

Equally at home in dramatic and comedic repertoire, and Baroque and contemporary repertoire, recent appearances have included Worker 5 in Juliet Palmer’s Sweat and Ragonde in Comte Ory with Manitoba Underground Opera, the title role in the Canadian premiere of Handel’s Arminio, Nerillo in L’Ormindo, Third Lady in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Oberon in Britten’s A Midsummer Nights Dream and the title role in Handel’s Ariodante with the U of M Opera Theatre Ensemble. She has recently performed with Manitoba Opera, Little Opera Company, Manitoba Opera Chorus, and has attended the Tafelmusik Baroque Summer Institute. Joanna was the 2026 winner of the Rose Bowl at the Winnipeg Music Festival, and she took home the Doris F. Mills Memorial Trophy and accompanying scholarship for her performance of "Erbarme dich” from St Matthew Passion.

Joanna is trained as a clown and loves bringing those skills to the rehearsal room and to the stage, most recently in summer opera workshops for kids with Manitoba Opera, and with The Operavisors, an improvised opera group. 

When she’s not singing, Joanna loves teaching the next generation of young singers at Westgate Mennonite Collegiate and Balmoral Hall School. She is certified as a level one teacher with Vocal Kinesthetics where she blends her passion for singing with nervous system based teaching. She made her directorial debut in 2026 with an excerpt of Hansel and Gretel with the U of M Opera Theatre Ensemble.