Joanna Filus-Olenkiewicz, born in Bielsko-Biala / Poland, has been living in Berlin since 2010. Violinist and violist, graduate of the Music Academy in Katowice, Kraków, Gdansk and the University of Szczecin in Poland, the University of the Arts in Graz in Austria and the University of Music and Theater in Rostock and University in Potsdam.

She is a finalist and prizewinner of numerous international solo and chamber music competitions, including with the Duo de Soleil. Scholarship holder from the mayor of Bielsko-Biała in 2000, from The California South University in Los Angeles, USA in 2001 and from the artists’ association ZAiKS, Warschaw in 2021. She has worked as a concertmaster and tuttist with many different orchestras (including the Staatstheater Kassel, Rundfunk – Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Oldenburg State Theater, Münster Symphony Orchestra, Freiburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Hofer Symphony Orchestra, Thuringian Symphony Orchestra Saalfeld-Rudolstadt, Berlin Symphony Orchestra, Wernigerode Philharmonic Orchestra, National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Katowice, Gorzow Philharmonic Orchestra, Toyohashi Symphony Orchestra in Japan). She also gives concerts as a chamber musician and soloist. She took part in many radio recordings, including with the National Polish Radio Orchestra in Katowice, the Berlin Radio Orchestra and on numerous world tours. Joanna Filus-Olenkiewicz is a viola teacher at a Young Talent course in Toyohashi, Japan. Since 2012 she has been closely associated with the music school in Reinickendorf in Berlin, where she teaches violin and viola. For several years she has been collaborating with the composer Karol Borsuk, creator of contemporary music, whose work she premieres and disseminates through recordings and public performances as well as music publications. As a member of the Internationale Beethoven Gesellschaft Berlin, Joanna actively contributes to the organization of the Young Ludwig Young Music Competition, initiated by IBG.

Joanna is also an active member of the European Forum for Polish Music in Berlin. She organizes music projects and concerts, collaborating with various artists under the name Filus Music Moments.

In addition, she deals with special education for the mentally handicapped and visually impaired and helps with conflict resolution as a conflict couch coach, mediator and communication trainer – trained at the BTA in Berlin.

Steve Schofield on Joanna Filus-Olenkiewicz:

“As a musician focused on improvised performances, it is a true pleasure to collaborate with Joanna Filus-Olenkiewicz. She brings her meticulously refined classical tone into the world of improvised music, enriching it with authentic spirit and a zest for life. Such qualities are exceptionally rare, especially in musicians who have received such a thorough education in the classical music tradition.”