Dr. Joanna Drimatis is a highly-respected conductor renowned as a champion of Australian music, contemporary classical music, and emerging musical voices. Recognised in the 2020 Art Music Awards with the Music Luminary Award for her advocacy, programming, and performance of Australian music, Dr. Drimatis currently serves as Music Director and Chief Conductor of the Beecroft Orchestra. Her extensive conducting portfolio includes previous positions with Christchurch Youth Orchestra and Adelaide Youth Sinfonia, as well as guest conducting roles with The Cooperative, Australian Doctors’ Orchestra, Sydney Youth Orchestra, NSW Doctors Orchestra, and Mosman Symphony. As a specialist in string pedagogy, she has taught across three countries and was formerly Head of Strings at MLC School in Sydney, now serving as Music Education Specialist for the Australian Music Centre.

Dr. Drimatis’s recent engagements showcase her versatility and continued innovation in the field. In 2025, she conducted the professional Opera Workshop premiere of “Emergenc/y” by Felicity Wilcox, followed by her acclaimed work with the Orange Festival of Chamber Music’s Cultured Youth Orchestra, where critics praised her ability to balance “complexity with enthusiasm” and noted her “witty baton” as “a very welcome” addition to the chamber music festival programme. Her September engagements included guest conducting Steel City Strings’ “Forest Bathing” concert and leading the Momentum Plus recording project, a professional orchestral recording funded by Music Australia and the Australian Music Centre at Trackdown Studios, Sydney. Musicians joining Dr. Drimatis for the SYO Summer Symphony Orchestra in 2026 will benefit from her exceptional ability to draw out both technical precision and musical expression from young performers, while gaining exposure to her innovative programming that champions Australian repertoire alongside classical masterworks. As both a performer who has played professionally with orchestras including the Boulder Philharmonic, Christchurch Symphony, and Adelaide Symphony, and an educator who has presented at international conferences including the Mid-West Band and Orchestra Clinic in Chicago, Dr. Drimatis continues to shape Australia’s classical music landscape through her multifaceted career.