New York based percussionist Laura Jordan has performed in Europe, Canada, Mexico and throughout the United States, in venues including Avery Fisher Hall, the Skirball Center of Los Angeles, the National Geographic in Washington, and the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
A new music advocate, Laura seeks out new projects and commissions across genres and in unorthodox venues. Recently, she presented a marimba concert at the 40C lounge on the lower east side as part of a mission to bring the marimba to unfamiliar audiences. In the fall, she will be performing as a soloist in similar venues as well as at East Carolina University and South Carolina State. Laura was recently featured as a marimba soloist on the 2008-2009 Music on MacDougal Series, which featured the world premiere of Mark Janello’s Sonata for Violin and Marimba. Laura has participated in commissions for works by Lukas Ligeti, Martin Bresnick, Alejandro Viñao, and in 2006, she gave the Western premiere of Menachem Zur's Translations for Percussion and Electronics. With the composer, she co-produced a recording of the work that has since been broadcast several times on Israeli radio.
Laura is active in chamber music; recently she was invited to work as a guest artist with Axiom Percussion. She regular performs with theater company Literally Alive, the off-Broadway show Percussion People, and with the troupe Huxley Vertical Cabaret Nouveau. Following two seasons with the New York Guitar Quartet, Laura joined the ranks of Ensemble Galilei for the 2004-2006 seasons, and for the 2005 recording Alta. Additionally, Laura works often world percussion artist, and has studied under Kumar Das (tabla), Myron Bretholz (bodhrán), Mark Cudek (early percussion), Valerie Naranjo (djembe), and Brent Roman. Laura has provided live percussion for modern dance and theater for the North Carolina School of the Arts, the Peabody Institute, New York University, and the National Dance Institute (NDI).
Laura was recently awarded a large Collaborative Performing Arts Grant from New York University, which will fund a Merkin Hall concert of the chamber music works of Toru Takemitsu in addition to establish a composition competition for New York University students. Laura has participated in several festivals including the Paris Marimba Competition and Perkumania festival in 2006, for which she received a Peabody Career Grant, and the first Zeltsman "Princeton" Marimba festival in 2001, for which she received a Semans Art Fund Grant.
Laura is faculty at the Bronx Conservatory of Music, Long Island Music Conservatory, Finger Power Music, and director/educator at Washington Heights Percussion, a school she founded in 2005. She has served as an adjunct professor at New York University, and has presented master classes at many institutions, including the Juilliard Pre-College. Laura serves as the Secretary of the New York State Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society, and is currently serving as chair of the committee to create the New York City International Marimba Competition.
Laura received her M.M. from the Peabody Conservatory in 2005, and her B.M. from the Peabody Conservatory in 2004, where she was a student of Robert van Sice and Jonathan Haas. Prior to that, she studied under John R. Beck at the North Carolina School of the Arts. At the age of 21, she was accepted into the highly academically competitive New York University Ph.D. program, where she is in the final stages of the degree. Laura is endorsed by Marimba One.