Ruben Hernandez – JGpercussion

Ruben Hernandez is active as at percussionist, timpanist and educator in Baja California and in Southern California. He is currently a member of “Blue Kiss Trio” (Classical-Jazz-Crossover) , “Elixir Solar” (Flamenco-Classical-Bossa-Fusion), and the Folk-Rock-Klezmer band “La Ballena de Jonas”. He also serves as a current guest for the “Baja California Orchestra”, the “Tijuana Camerata”, and for “Madame Ur y sus Hombres” (Jazzy Trip-Hop). And he teaches percussion/drums at the San Diego Youth Symphony, OPUS Community Project and the Tijuana Youth Symphony.

Ruben Hernandez began his musical studies on drums at the age of 14 at the “Casa de la Cultura” in Tijuana-Mexico, he continued his studies in classical percussion at the Conservatory of the Baja California Orchestra (OBC) with Jorge Peña (Principal Percussion – OBC) in the same city. Later on he continued his professional studies in Music Education & Percussion Performance in San Diego State University (SDSU), where he studied classical percussion under the guidance of Greg Cohen (Principal Percussion – San Diego Symphony [SDSO]), drum-set with Mike Holguin (Celia Cruz) and Afro-Latin percussion with Mark Lamson and John Flood. He has attended to several masterclasses/clinics with important and well-known percussionists including: Evelyn Glennie, Terry Bozzio, Carl Palmer (Emerson, Lake & Palmer), Joel Bluestone (Portland State University), among others. He also studied composition under the guidance of Alberto Nuñez Palacio and Armando Pesqueira (Conductor, Chihuahua State Orchestra).

His work as a classical player has taken him to work along with well-known composers, conductors, players and orchestras including:

Eduardo Diaz-Muñoz, Matthew Rowe, Eduardo Garcia Barrios, Armando Pesqueira, Michael Daugherty, Steven Bryant, Dimitri Dudin, Catalin Rotaru, Horacio Franco, Regina Orozco, International Philharmonic of the Californias, Tijuana Camerata, and many more.

Outside classical music, his work as percussionist and drummer has taken him to work with a variety of ensembles, from Mexican folk music, to rock, jazz, flamenco and more including:

“Opera de Tijuana”, “Opera Ambulante”, “Exilio Rojo” (Flamenco Show), “Corazon de Piedra Verde” (Mexican Folk Music), “La Luna te lo Dira…” (Musical Play), Javier Batiz (Rock Legend), Lupillo Cruz y TNT (Jazz), and many more.