"I could stay here all day and hear you sing." a guest in the audience of a concert in Bath.
"With her beautiful voice, Maria Johannsen takes sacred music to a higher plane (...) Highly recommended."
Jackie Holderness, Oxford
I am born in Haderslev/DK in the German minority. After taking my exams at the German Gymnasium and university I studied singing with the concert singer and anthroposoph, Jytte Carl in Copenhagen. She herself was a student of Berty Jenny, Sergiu Celibidache and Georg Vásárhelyi. The lessons with Jytte Carl have been extremely thorough and are still a source for new experiences and insight for me. I am extremely grateful to her.
Before and during my lessons with Jytte Carl, I studied mathematics and physics, first at the Christian Albrechts Universität in Kiel/Germany and later at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, where Holger Bech Nielsen was one of my professors. I got an MSc. in theoretical physics with a thesis with excellent marks on Superstrings. I left Physics – but I still love the clear pure thought, the beauty of the formulas and the power of the proofs.
Furthermore I enjoyed many years the very inspiring piano lessons of pianist Poul Aagaard Pedersen.
Examples of programmes from my time in Sicily:
  •  - ”Der Musensohn” Lieder with texts by J.W. von Goethe
  •  - Lieder on H. C. Andersen-texts for the H. C. Andersen celebrations in 2005 at the University of Catania for a H. C. Andersen-Congress, where I also was involved in the organizing and planning.
  •  - Liederabend with Lieder by Johannes Brahms with the pianist and conductor Stefano Sanfilippo at the University of Catania 
  • ​ - Lieder programmes for Astrophysics conferences on Lipari and other places
  •  - I was soloist in Bach’s Magnificat and I have sung arias by Mozart with the Jugendkammerorchester Birseck/Switzerland.

While in England:
  • Lunchtime Recital with pianist Oliver Williams in St. Nicholas Church i Newbury
  • "Melodies of the Heart": Songs by Grieg, Rachmaninoff and Richard Strauss with pianist Peter Toye at Reading University and in other places. 
The many years outside Denmark have given me international experiences as a soloist in church concerts, concerts with opera arias and –duets, many Christmas concerts, Poetry concerts and especially Lieder concerts.
I am fascinated by languages and speak fluently German, English, Danish and Italian. With special devotion I sing and study Russian.
In Denmark I can mention the church concerts in Petri Kirche in Copenhagen and “Serafiske Klange” (Seraphic Harmonies) with Lieder and arias by Mendelssohn in the church of Løgumkloster.
As a principle I do not make recordings or CD’s and I don’t sing in competitions – only in concerts.
While living in Sicily I founded the children’s choir ”I Passerotti” (The Sparrows) and performed with them and professional musicians on many occasions. I also was the leader of the choir of the German community in Catania for some years.
In 2010 I founded the ensemble ”Corde di gioia” (Strings of Joy) with my daughters Anna (cello) and Giuly (violin) and the medieval group “Bjælderne” (The Bells).