Johanna Summer
piano
Vita
German pianist Johanna Summer was born in Plauen in 1995 and began classical piano lessons at the age of seven. She later studied jazz piano at the conservatories in Dresden and Cologne and performed with Germany’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Her work brings the two worlds together by placing classical music in an improvisational context — an approach she also explores on her solo albums Schumann Kaleidoskop (2020) and Resonanzen (2023), which were nominated for the German Jazz Prize and the Opus Klassik. Her most recent album, Dialoge, was released in May. Summer has received awards including the Young Munich Jazz Prize, second prize at the eastPLUGGED Junior Awards, and Essen’s “Jazz Pott.” She performs both solo and in duo with saxophonist Jakob Manz and with singer and composer Malakoff Kowalski.
October 2026
