YANA
Biography YANA
YANA /strong>(Joanna Bieńkowska)
instrumentalist and composer based in Gdańsk, Poland, where she graduated from the Academy of Music in the violin class. She has already performed many times in Poland and abroad, both solo and with chamber ensembles and orchestras.
YANA creates music that combines classical instruments: piano, strings, and electronics. In April 2022 she self-released her debut album „Solace“. The record features minimalist piano solo pieces and meditative dialogues between the piano and strings. At the same time, it includes complexed compositions based on electronics and the sound of analog synthesizers.
This whole spectrum of instruments and arrangements is a reflection of the artist’s musical preferences, changing sensibility, exploration, and constant excitement about new textures.
While creating the videos for the singles which promoted her album, she cooperated with amazing visual artists from the Berlin-based collective Magnificent Matter as well as with the polish director Magdalena Zielińska and dop Mateusz Kanownik. The music video for the song „June” created by this duo premiered on prestigious platform Director’s Library.
In May 2022 YANA opened Robot Koch’s new album release event in Berlin with the support act. In summer 2022 YANA promoted her debut album performing as one of the artists invited for the biggest concert tour in Poland- Męskie Granie – she performed among the biggest stars in the polish music industry.
YANA cooperated, among others, with the singer Oly. or the producer and multi-instrumentalist of MaJLo. Together with the producer under the pseudonym Tjomur, they covered the song „We Contain Multitudes“ by Ólafur Arnalds, which was appreciated and shared by the artist himself.
YANA’s songs were heard not only in Polish but also on foreign radio stations, such as Berlin’s neoFM / FluxFM or one of the most famous American radio stations with alternative music – KEXP. YANA composed the soundtrack for the short movie „Nice to Meet You“ directed by Marianna Korman, which premiered in June 2021 at the international Tofifest Film Festival in Toruń, Poland.
