BORN IN: New York

LIVES IN: Baltimore

PLAYING SINCE: 1983

BIGGEST INFLUENCES: Click or tap here to enter text.

MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE YOU PLAYED IN: Bernstein Mass conducted by Marin Alsop

MOST MEMORABLE PERFORMANCE YOU DIDN’T PLAY IN: Click or tap here to enter text.

CAREER HIGHLIGHT: Annapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Tour to Spain

FAVOURITE SABIAN CYMBAL: Whichever cymbal I am playing at the time-I love them all.

Robert Jenkins is a versatile musician with extensive experience performing a wide variety of music including symphony, opera, ballet, jazz, and Broadway. Mr. Jenkins is a member of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra’s percussion section. In addition to his position with the RSO, he has been the acting Principal Percussionist of the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra since 2021 and lead the percussion section on the orchestra’s first international tour to Spain in 2022. In addition to critically acclaimed performances in Madrid and Zaragoza, the ASO had the distinction of being the first American orchestra to perform at the Palau de les Arts in Valencia and the Auditorio Manuel de Falla in Grenada. Robert maintains an active schedule as a freelance percussionist, timpanist, and drummer.

Regular symphonic engagements include the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Philly Pops, National Philharmonic, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and the symphonies of Maryland, Delaware, Harrisburg, and Reading, amongst others.

He is currently a member of the Opera Delaware orchestra and was previously a member of the Baltimore Opera orchestra. He regularly performs with Washington National Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Opera Baltimore, Annapolis Opera, and Virginia Opera.

As a regular guest musician with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Mr. Jenkins has performed with the Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Additionally, he performs frequently with the Richmond Ballet.

As a drummer, Robert has played in many and varied ensembles and orchestras throughout the Mid-Atlantic region; one highlight being a production in Baltimore of the Bernstein Mass conducted by Marin Alsop. He has performed with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, jazz vocalists Hilary Kole and Sarah Jones, and renowned New York pianist, composer, and arranger Mark Berman. Additionally, he has performed with members of Tony Bennett’s rhythm section, and also with members of the Army Blues, the Navy Commodores, and the Air Force’s Airmen of Note.

Mr. Jenkins has performed on Broadway national tours and performed in the premieres of two one-act musicals written by Andrew Lippa, “I am Anne Hutchinson” (2016) and “Unbreakable” (2022). Robert has worked with some of the top performers on Broadway including Kristin Chenoweth, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Andrew Lippa, Capathia Jenkins, Ryan Shaw, Hugh Panaro, Scarlett Strallen, Marissa McGowan, Doug LaBrecque, and Lisa Vroman, as well as conductors Leslie Stifelman, Jay Alger, and Marvin Hamlisch.

Robert has been on faculty at the Washington DC Youth Orchestra Program, Howard Community College, and the University of Maryland at Baltimore County. He is a graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University.