Biography

Joan Ellison has been praised for her "vocal prowess....[and] organic grasp of the classic songs" by Michael Feinstein, and has made a specialty of reviving Judy Garland’s repertoire from the golden Hollywood years to her Carnegie Hall concert and television show, including restoring Ms. Garland’s glorious original orchestrations. Of her NYC solo cabaret show at Feinstein’s/54 Below, Cabaret Scenes Magazine wrote: “[Joan is] Judy-esque in appearance and…a near voice double for her idol.”

Recent concert highlights include her symphonic pops concert, Get Happy! A Judy Garland Celebration, with the Toledo, Jacksonville, Portland, New Haven, Springfield, Punta Gorda, Bartlesville, Southwest (IL), New Albany, and Paducah Symphonies, the Pops Orchestra of Bradenton and Sarasota, and the Cleveland Pops; Holiday appearances with the Erie Philharmonic, Augusta Symphony, and Cleveland Pops; sold-out performances in Florida of her one-woman theatre piece, All Happiness, Judy Garland;  Judy and Liza at the Palladium with the Santa Rosa Pops; a concert for the annual Judy Garland Festival in Judy’s birthplace of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; “The American Musical on Stage and Screen” as part of the 2019 Bard Music Festival (NY); and a song-for-song recreation of Garland’s 1961 Carnegie Hall concert hosted by Judy’s daughter, Lorna Luft, and conducted by Michael Berkowitz (Liza Minnelli’s conductor/drummer), with Joan and Broadway divas Debbie Gravitte and Karen Mason. Her new symphony concert, It’s Magic! Joan Ellison Swings in High Fidelity, premiered in 2023 with the North Charleston Pops and Whiting Park Festival Orchestra and celebrates the most dazzling singers, songwriters, and arrangers of the mid-twentieth century. Songs recorded by Rosemary Clooney, Doris Day, Lena Horne, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Keely Smith, Judy Garland, and Eydie Gormé are on the bill, featuring the restored original arrangements. Her cabaret concert celebrating the Garland Centennial, Love Finds Judy Garland, played theatres in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maine. Joan’s work as a singer and arrangement restorer was recently featured as part of #PBSForTheArts and on Detroit Public Television.

Upcoming 2024-25 tour highlights include Love Finds Judy Garland at Florida’s Maltz Jupiter Theatre, It’s Magic! with the symphonies of New Haven, Evansville, and Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Get Happy! with the symphonies of Hilton Head, Holland (MI), and Tuscaloosa, and Holiday Pops with the symphonies of New Albany and Enid (OK).

In 2016, Joan embarked on a mission to restore Judy Garland’s original orchestrations. At Michael Feinstein’s invitation she serves as Editor of the Judy Garland Carnegie Hall Concert Restoration Project for the Judy Garland Heirs Trust. Recently, Joan was given the privilege of restoring the newly-rediscovered MGM film arrangement of “Over the Rainbow.”

Joan made her Cleveland Pops Orchestra debut at Severance Hall in 2005 and has since sung more than 65 concerts coast-to-coast with the Santa Rosa Pops, Evansville Philharmonic, Erie Philharmonic, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra, National Repertory Orchestra, Wheaton Pops, Canton Symphony, Ashland Symphony, Enid Symphony, Bemus Bay Pops, Tuscarawas Philharmonic, Lakeside Symphony, Ohio Valley Symphony, and Whiting Park Festival Orchestra.

In 2016, she played the role of Ms. Garland in the first U.S. professional regional production of The Boy From Oz. In addition to touring the country with shows she co-created, Love Finds Judy Garland and Gershwin On the Air, Joan has played classic leading-lady roles including Julie in Carousel, Nellie in South Pacific, Lizzie in 110 in the Shade, and Eliza in My Fair Lady (in concert).  Her critically-acclaimed second album, “Retrophonic Gershwin” (2015), was recorded at Oberlin's Clonick Hall and mixed and mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Robert Friedrich.

She earned an M.M.T. and a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Early musical highlights while growing up in Iowa included playing Flora in The Turn of the Screw with the Des Moines Metro Opera, opposite Lauren Flanigan, and singing for Liza Minnelli when she came to town. She also serves as Teacher of Popular Voice at The Cleveland Institute of Music and for the M.F.A. Acting Program at the Cleveland Play House/Case Western Reserve University, and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. www.joanellison.com

PRESS

...Rare combination of artist, archivist, and arranger...  Michael Feinstein

Another highlight…is Joan Ellison’s wondrous performance of ‘Over the Rainbow.’ Her voice strong and clear,…Ellison gives a master class in interpretation. Painting a picture with her talent and emotion, Ellison’s irresistible performance inspires an electric reaction from the crowd. New Jersey Stage

Ellison captivated her audience through her own vulnerability and passion with song and façon de parler. She doesn’t imitate Garland; instead, she honors her and…intimately portrays and shares a legacy of romance, love, loss, and longing. We were captured by her sumptuous musical badinage and expressed poignant tensions. Ellison is sensually dazzling, graceful, and glittering, from her signature red lipstick and costumes to the music. Elizabeth Ann Foster, Front Row Center

New York deserves to see and hear more of Joan Ellison.  Marilyn Lester, Cabaret Scenes Magazine

[Joan] doesn't just blow off the dust — she gets inside the raw material and inhabits it.  Piers Ford (U.K.), Cry Me a Torch Song

Joan Ellison, on the other hand, is a ringer for Garland... — the voice, the mannerisms, the look. But this is more than an imitation.  She conveys the authority of a superstar. "The Boy from Oz" was worth seeing just for her breathtaking performance.  Bill O’Neill, Collier Citizen

Ellison is all freshness, vulnerability, and charm, singing up a storm (and, yes, a rainbow)...She inhabits the texts as if living them anew.  Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer

The quality of Ellison’s voice was perfect. New York Cabaret Today

…for aficionados of the popular tunes of the first half of the 20th century and those who enjoy hearing George Gershwin’s brilliant compositions and his brother Ira’s inimitable lyrics performed authentically, this is as close as a modern recording will come. Ellison is to be commended not only for her performance, but also for the scholarship and meticulous research she brings to the project.  Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, Fanfare

Joan Ellison has done a very impressive rendition of Judy Garland's singing style in her stage show performances.  Roger Hall, Film Music Review

...Intensity and hypnotizing stage presence...  Keith Joseph, Scene Magazine

...Sensibility and taste in interpreting and rescuing these songs.  Michael Feinstein

She possesses a crystalline voice that never stops.  Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer

Luminous. She's like a young Audrey Hepburn with a meltingly lovely soprano...You can't take your eyes off her...  Linda Eisenstein, The Plain Dealer

Joan Ellison sings like an angel.  Christine Howey, Scene Magazine

To say 'Joan lit up the stage' is to use a cliche, but that's why the phrase was coined to begin with.  She did just that as she sang the Garland tunes with heartfelt spirit and a warm, vibrant sound — she is a gem!  The audience fell in love at first sight and song.  Eric Benjamin, Conductor and Composer

She caresses ballads with silvery poignancy, nabs the wit in comedy numbers, and emits a belt that Ethel Merman would admire.  Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer