Dramatic soprano Johanna Rusanen graduated as master of music from the Sibelius Academy. She has supplemented her vocal studies in Berlin and Vienna. She won the Timo Mustakallio singing competition in 1995 and the national singing competition in Lappenranta in 1996. In 1997, she received the Martti Talvela grant and in 1998–2000 she received a scholarship to Deutsche Oper Berlin. Johanna Rusanen received the Karita Mattila award in 2001. In 2021, she was awarded the Pro Finlandia medal for her artistic work in Finland.

Johanna Rusanen made her debut at the Finnish National Opera as well as the Savonlinna Opera Festival in 1997. She has also sung at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Moscow Bolshoi in a Savonlinna Opera Festival production, Teatro Regio Turin, Teatro Municipal de São Paulo, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Toulouse Opera. Her most important roles are Puccini’s Tosca and Turandot, Leonora in Verdi’s La forza del destino, Chrysothemis in Strauss’ Electra, Venus in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Ortrud in Lohengrin, and Isolde in Tristan and Isolde.

Johanna Rusanen has performed, for instance, at the Grant Park Music festival in Chicago, the Beethoven and Krzysztof Penderecki festivals in Warsaw, and at the BBC Proms in London, in addition to numerous festivals in Finland.

Johanna Rusanen was awarded a Grammy in 2017 for the Warner Classics recording Penderecki conducts Penderecki.

In 2022–2024, Rusanen debuts as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s The Valkyrie, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung in the new Ring production at the Finnish National Opera.