Jo Giovani & Emilia De Geer

Born in Indonesia, Jo studied at Methodist Charles Wesley Music School with the late Dr. Johannes Sebastian Nugroho and Feirist Tan before attending the Royal Academy of Music in London under the tutelage of Amandine Savary. She was generously supported by the Alice Payne Scholarship during her studies at the Academy and graduated with First Class Honours in 2019. She subsequently pursued her postgraduate studies with Philip Jenkins at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, receiving the Concert Recital Diploma for exceptional performance in her end-of-year exam. After completing her Artist Diploma with Joan Havill, during which she won the 2022 Guildhall Romantic Piano Prize, she was offered the conservatoire’s Junior Fellowship for piano for the year 2023-24.

Jo has been recognised nationally for exceptional performance, receiving the Derek Butler Award from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust as well as awards from Help Musicians UK and the Craxton Memorial Trust. She has played in concert venues such as the St Martin-in-the Fields, Fidelio, and Milton Court. She has had masterclasses with Bengt Forsberg, Kathryn Stott, Steven Osborne OBE, Boris Berman and Daniel Blumenthal. In addition to her work as a soloist, she is also a keen chamber musician. She is particularly fascinated by the piano music of Leoš Janáček (having performed all of his solo piano works) and Francis Poulenc. She is also a champion of contemporary music, most recently performing in a world premiere of the two-piano version of Errollyn Wallen’s Piano Concerto with Sarah Cahill in the Barbican Centre.