Singer, songwriter, cellist Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a rare exception to the rule that classical and alternative r&b music cannot successfully coexist.
Graduating with a first from both Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and the Manhattan School of Music, Ayanna was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and become an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre. She was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors, a member of Anoushka Shankar’s Traces Of You Tour and became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC.
As a composer, she has scored original music for various productions and as an arranger and orchestrator Ayanna has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra (Hugh Masekela), and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Urban Classic).
Since releasing her EPs Truthfully and Black Panther Ayanna has extensively toured the UK and several countries in Europe, whilst gaining a MOBO award nomination and gening airplay on BBC Radio 1 & BBC lXtra. A performer of extraordinary versatility her live shows, both solo or with her 3-piece band are intimate journeys that chronicle her experience as a female artist in the 21st century.
Her 11-track debut album ‘Road Runner’ was released on 26th April 2019. A concept album that pays tribute to her Jamaican roots, with its authentic urban grittiness against the backdrop of Ayanna’s incredible musicality.
She is the definition of eclectic soul