Biography

Known for her inspiring leadership, creativity, and an infectious spirit for music-making, JoAnna Cochenet is establishing herself in the conducting world as a sensitive and versatile artist. An ambitious and passionate conductor who knows well both sides of the podium, she enjoys exploring and sharing a wide range of repertoire and music-making experiences with both musicians and audiences in the orchestra and opera worlds.

Most recently, Cochenet was Conductor of the Nevada Chamber Opera’s Spring 2023 production of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and was the Assistant Conductor for Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte at the Alexandria [Prague] Summer Nights Young Artists Music Festival in Alexandria and Castleton, Virginia in June 2023. She was selected as a Full Conducting Participant in the 2023 Cascade Conducting Master Class (Tacoma, WA), conducting Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations in concert, and was a recent Conducting Fellow with the Allentown Symphony Orchestra in Pennsylvania. She will be Assistant Conductor for the Sondheim show Sweeney Todd in the Spring of 2024 and will conduct a university student composition winner piece on the April 2024 concert. She has also conducted several works on the 2023 University of Nevada-Reno Symphony Orchestra Holiday Concert, including a piece she commissioned for brass and percussion, and has recently guest conducted the Nevada Wind Ensemble.

Cochenet has conducted professional orchestras and soloists in master class competitions, concerts, and rehearsals in the United States and Ukraine, studying under prominent working conductors, and working with both instrumental and opera soloists. Orchestras conducted in master classes have included: Omaha Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, National Presidential Orchestra of Ukraine, Bard Conductors Institute Orchestra, members of Tacoma, Asheville, Allentown, Norwalk Symphonies, and several others.

Cochenet has held conductor and director positions for several community organizations with orchestra and choir and has been engaged numerous times as Guest, Cover Conductor, and Clinician, including for several orchestra festivals and other concerts and rehearsals around the United States, and as a music lecturer; and has performed professionally on viola and violin. She is currently ABD status and will finish her DMA in Orchestral Conducting studies at the University of Nevada, Reno in Spring 2024, and holds additional degrees and certification in orchestral conducting, viola performance, and music education.

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