She graduated with honours from the I.J. Paderewski Music Academy in Poznan after studies with Prof. Waldemar Andrzejewski, to whom she was then appointed assistant lecturer. In 2006 she obtained her doctorate in music and took up the post of lecturer in the Piano Department of the Academy.

She is one of the most gifted and outstanding Polish pianists of the young generation, award winner in 21 international and national piano competitions and festivals, including:

- 1st prize in the International Piano Competition "Artur Rubinstein in Memoriam" in Bydgoszcz (1996)
- Grand Prix of the 30th Festival of the Polish Piano Art in Slupsk (1996)
- 2nd prize in the 1st National Yamaha Piano Competition in Gdansk (1999)
- 2nd prize and special award for the best performance of works by Karol Szymanowski in the 5th International Karol Szymanowski Competition as well as the special award of the Dutch Music Society "Chopin - Szymanowski" (2001)
- 3rd prize and the audience award in the 5th International Piano Competition in Cologne, Germany (October 2001)
- 1st prize in the 7th European Chopin Competition in Darmstadt (2002).

She has also been granted the highest awards in chamber music competitions:

- 1st prize and the award for the best pianist in the National Competition for Chamber Ensembles in Bydgoszcz (1994)
- 1st prize and the Grand Prix "Apollo's Chariot" in the National Chamber Music Competition in Wrocław (1995)
In December 1996, as a result of a competition of recordings, she obtained the scholarship of the J.E.S.C Music Foundation in Japan for the best young Polish pianist.
Joanna Marcinkowska has played recitals and solo parts at symphonic concerts in many Polish cities, performing with such excellent ensembles as "Amadeus" Chamber Orchestra of the Polish Radio (cond. Agnieszka Duczmal), "Concerto Avenna" (cond. Andrzej Mysiński), as well as eminent Polish and foreign conductors, such as Tadeusz Strugała, Marek Pijarowski, Grzegorz Nowak, Ian Hobson, Helmut Froschauer, Gert Sell, or Vladimir Kiradjiev. She has given recitals in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the USA.

She has participated in numerous prestigious piano festivals in Poland and abroad, giving recitals and appearing as a concert soloist at, among others, the International Chopin Festivals in Duszniki-Zdrój (1997, 2000), in Antonin ‘Chopin in Autumn Colours' (1996), in Austria in Vienna (1999), Salzburg (the famous Mozarteum-Saal, 1999) and Gaming (1997), at the International Festival of Great Piano Competition Winners in Hanover (2002), at the Festival of Polish Piano Art in Słupsk (1996, 2000, 2004, 2007), the Paderewski Days in Kąśna Dolna, the ‘Music and Graphic Arts' Festival in Lublin and the Witold Lutosławski Festival in Szczecin, where she premiered Piano Sonata No. 4 by the Poznań-based composer Mirosław Bukowski. In June 2002, she played recitals of Karol Szymanowski's works at International Music Festivals in Sofia and Plovdiv (Bulgaria).
The young pianist has been decorated with the Medal of Young Art, granted to young artists from Poznań for outstanding artistic achievements. She has repeatedly received the artistic scholarships of the Polish Minister of Culture and of the Frederic Chopin Society in Warsaw, as well as a scholarship from the City of Poznan.