Hanna Wiskari has been active as a musician and educator for over 20 years. With the soprano saxophone as her main instrument and Nordic folk music as her foundation, Hanna has cultivated a distinctive sound and personal style that has resonated through her work with many bands and projects over the years such as Goodland Trio, NID, Habbadám, and Across the Great Divide amongst others.

Born into a musical family on the west coast of Sweden, Hanna cannot recall a time when music wasn’t an integral part of her life. As a child, she sang in choirs, learned the recorder, and discovered the saxophone at age 10. A formative moment came when she heard a recording of Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek - a sound that ignited her passion for the instrument.

Though she was exposed to traditional music from an early age through her father, who plays the nyckelharpa (keyed fiddle), attending her first folk music camp at 14 proved to be a turning point. It was there that she developed her own deep connection to the music and its vibrant community. Inspired by many strong role models, she grew up in a creative environment that encouraged her to explore traditional music on a nontraditional instrument.

After finishing high school, Hanna spent a year studying classical saxophone at the Academy of Music and Drama in Göteborg. But her growing passion for folk music led her to Bollnäs Folk High School’s folk music programme, and eventually to a Performance degree in Folk Music at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.

As a freelance musician, Hanna has performed and toured extensively across the folk, traditional, and world music scenes both in Sweden and internationally. Her work spans live performance, album recordings, and teaching across diverse settings, including music schools, universities, private students, and workshops.

Over the past 15 years, Hanna has served as an artistic mentor for Ethno, a global movement that brings together young adult musicians from around the world to share, learn and explore traditional and cultural music. 

Since relocating to Aotearoa New Zealand in 2016, Hanna has increasingly focused on the organisational and community-building side of music. She co-founded Ethno New Zealand and its umbrella organisation, Arts Connections Oceania, both of which aim to foster intercultural connection through music and the arts. This shift in focus also inspired her to pursue an MBA in Arts Innovation through the Global Leaders Institute, where she continued to develop her leadership in the cultural and creative sectors.