Joanna Ehlers, Kansas City’s Dramatic Mezzo-Soprano, has performed with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Landlocked Opera Inc., Lawrence Opera Theatre and in several independent productions. In 2021, Joanna was a semi-finalist for the Friedrich and Virginia Schorr Memorial Award for the American Prize in Vocal Performance. She is the artistic director ofDramatic Voices Midwest, Kansas City’s newest opera company. Recent opera performances include Landlocked Opera’s Tartuffe (M. Pernelle, 2022) and Mother Noah (Sella, 2023.) In March of 2023, she appeared with the Boston Camerata in Dido and Aeneas. Joanna premiered the role of Minnie in the new chamber opera The Murderess in July of 2023 and took on the role of Madame Flora in Menotti’s The Medium with Opera On Tap-Kansas City in September. She performed Lucia in Cavalleria Rusticana with Opera West in October of 2023. In June of 2024, she sang the role of The Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas and its companion piece, Jake Landau’s & Aeterna with the New Voice Festival in Boise, Idaho. In August, she appeared with Dramatic Voices Midwest as Brangaene in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, the state’s first performance of the opera in over fifty years. In 2025, Joanna looks forward to performances of Die Walküre (Fricka) in July and Salome (Herodias) in August.

When she isn’t performing, Joanna can be found in her garden, playing with her house pets or trying new recipes in her kitchen. An avid hiker, she enjoys visiting nature preserves and national parks with her family. Joanna resides in Independence, Missouri.