Roxan Jurkevich

Roxan Jurkevich is a dynamic, multi-faceted percussionist whose many musical influences allow her the freedom to perform in a myriad of musical styles. In the Classical realm, she has been Principal Percussionist/Assistant Principal Timpanist with the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra (“OBC” – Orquestra Simfónica de Barcelona i Nacional de Catalunya) since the 1991-92 season, with whom she’s appeared various times as soloist, performing the world premiere of Alejandro Civilotti’s Rhapsódia para Percusión y Orquesta (Tarragona, 1994), as well as recording the timpani solo on Franz Waxman’s Sinfonietta for String Orchestra and Timpani (Koch records, 1998).

Ms. Jurkevich has performed numerous times with the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Antwerp, as well as under maestros Lorin Maazel and Zubin Mehta with the Orquestra de la Comunidad Valenciana (OCV) at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia. In the New York area she has performed with the American Symphony and American Composers Orchestras, the New Jersey, New Haven, Albany, and Harrisburg Symphonies, and in the musical theater realm has played for various Broadway and Off-Broadway shows (West Side Story, The Little Mermaid, Guys & Dolls, Beauty and the Beast, etc…). She has appeared on major U.S. TV networks, performing with Enya on The Today Show, as well as on 60 Minutes with Bono and The Edge of U2 during Spiderman: The Musical – Turn off the Dark rehearsals. She has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Musikverrein and Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Royal Albert and Royal Festival Halls in London, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, Teatre Liceu in Barcelona, and at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, among many others.

As an active chamber musician, she has collaborated with composers in both Spain and the U.S., performing with I.C.E., Newband, Speculum Musicae, Drumfire Quartet, Percusions i Solistes de l’OBC, Cicle de Conciertos Crescendo, etc…. Ms. Jurkevich teaches privately, and has given master classes in various cities throughout Spain, France, and the United States, as well as having served on the faculty at various summer festivals. She has recorded on award-winning albums for the RCA Victor/BMG, EMI, Decca, Telarc, Koch, Harmonia Mundi and Naxos labels, two of those albums having won Latin Grammy awards. She is a member of Fifth Essence, a pop music “cover band” which consists of a string quartet plus percussion playing acoustic arrangements of well-known pop songs.

A native of New York City, Ms. Jurkevich holds Bachelors and Masters degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Roland Kohloff, Elden C. Bailey and Gordon Gottlieb. Prior to that, she studied at Queens College with Richard Horowitz, spent summers at the Aspen Music Festival and the Berklee World Music Festival, and as a hobby-turned profession, is also a club DJ and works with producers in developing drum tracks for electronic dance music productions.

Ms. Jurkevich was supervising editor for the translation from English to Catalan of the book “How to Write for Percussion”, by Samuel Z. Solomon, and has served as an interpreter at percussion festivals and press conferences in Spain for English-speaking artists. Roxan Jurkevich proudly endorses Avedis Zildjian Cymbals, Pearl Drums, Latin Percussion (LP) and RhythmTech Percussion instruments.

OrchestraBarcelona Symphony OrchestraTitlePercussion and Timpani