British vocalist, cellist and composer Ayanna is a pioneer of Black folk music and is the first non-American to win the legendary Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater in Harlem – and one of only a handful of people to win with an original composition. A former emerging Artist in Residence (EAR) at London’s Southbank Centre, participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and the holder of music degrees from Trinity College of Music (UK) and Manhattan School of Music (US) Ayanna is an emerging composer/arranger/performer of versatility and depth. "Cellist and singer Ayanna Witter-Johnson has to be heard to be believed. Her self-assured style blends a honey-sweet vocal delivery with bewitching, and bewildering, cello-playing." - Mike Flynn, Time Out Ayanna Witter-Johnson influences range from artist such as Betty Carter,Luciano Berio, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Peter Eotvos, Johann Sebastian Bach, Ella Fitzgerald, Steely Dan, Michael Jackson, Frank Zappa, Wayne Shorter,Björk , Bobby McFerrin, Carla Bley, Carole King, Nina Simone and Mariza.
