Joanna Clare hails from Central New York. She’s a well-respected Irish fiddler and released her debut album, To Keep the Candle Burning in 2022. The album features NEA National Heritage Fellow Billy McComiskey, and All-Ireland champions Brian Conway and Josh Dukes, along with Myron Bretholz, Sean McComiskey, Matt Mulqueen, Catherine O’Kelly, and Liam Presser. To Keep the Candle Burning is dedicated to the many traditional Irish musicians who inspired her throughout her childhood. While the album includes some original tunes, it is primarily comprised of tunes she learned either directly from these musicians or from their recordings.

At the age of three, Joanna began learning classical violin through the Suzuki method at The Hochstein School in Rochester, New York. She later studied with Maggie Mercer, Harumi Rhodes, and Dr. Peter Rovit. When she was eleven, she began studying with Sligo fiddle master Brian Conway, who was highly instrumental in her musical development. Joanna has won many awards in the annual Mid-Atlantic Fleadh Ceoil which is run by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. In 2021, she was awarded runner-up for the senior fiddle slow airs competition at the FleadhFest in Sligo, Ireland.

Joanna has performed at numerous festivals, including The Maryland Avenue Fall Festival, The Maryland Folk Festival, The Maryland Irish Festival, The New York Trad Fest, The Philadelphia Ceili Group Traditional Irish Music and Dance Festival, and The Philadelphia Folk Festival, The Rochester Irish Festival, The Springwater Fiddler's Fair, and The Syracuse Irish Festival. Joanna is certified to teach violin with the Suzuki Association of the Americas and teaches Suzuki violin, Irish fiddle, improvisation, and general music classes for babies and toddlers. Joanna lives in Baltimore, Maryland where she earned her degree in materials science and engineering with a music minor from Johns Hopkins University.