Joanne Roughton-Arnold is a New Zealand/British soprano equally at home in well-known and new repertoire, on the opera stage and on the concert platform. She commissions and gives performances of new music with astonishing emotion and vision, from leading composers in the UK and abroad. Most recently, she commissioned Rylan Gleave to write "The Happy Prince" for two singers, pianist and two Deaf actors. In 2015 she commissioned Dame Gillian Whitehead and Fleur Adcock CNZM OBE to write "Iris Dreaming", a one-woman chamber opera based on the life of celebrated New Zealand writer and feminist, Iris Wilkinson. She gave the world premiere as part of the 2016 Grimeborn Festival, followed by the NZ premiere at the prestigious Adam Chamber Music Festival, broadcast by Radio NZ Concert. She is the soprano soloist on Daniel Pemberton’s soundtrack for “Rising Phoenix”, Netflix’ award-winning feature-length documentary on the Paralympics. Joanne is Co-Founder, CEO & Creative Director of formidAbility, a female- and disability-led opera company breaking down barriers on- and off-stage and challenging outdated narratives about disabled talent. She is a powerful advocate for inclusion in the classical music and opera sector, and is engaged by major UK arts organisations as a consultant and advocate.