Joanna Smith was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex and studied at the Royal College of Music with Ruth Gerald, where she gained a First Class Honours degree and Postgraduate Diplomas in Performance and Advanced Performance (Accompaniment) with Distinction. She has a busy and varied career accompanying instrumentalists, singers and choirs and travelling widely in the UK and abroad. For some ten years after graduating she worked regularly at the Royal College of Music, accompanying for concerts, auditions and exams, as well as for masterclasses with some of the world’s leading instrumentalists. She accompanies for auditions with the major orchestras and many musical trusts, and she frequently works with the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery programme and for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She has also worked as orchestral pianist with the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra of the Swan, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Southbank Sinfonia, and the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra.