Born in Miami, Florida Jessica Muñiz-Collado received her MFA in music composition at the Vermont College of Fine Arts under the direction of Emmy-nominated composer, music producer, and music supervisor Don DiNicola, and award-winning jazz pianist/composer Diane Moser. She also received a BM in percussion performance at the University of Miami Frost School of Music under the direction of renown percussionist/composer and Yamaha Artist Dr. Ney Rosauro, Vic Firth Artist Edward “Ted” Adkatz (former principal percussionist of the Chicago Symphony), Latin Percussion Artist Richard Bravo, and Pearl Drumset Artist Olbin Burgos to name a few.
She has compositions published with the HoneyRock Music Publishing Company, JW Pepper, and is a commissioned composer. Her compositions have been nationally and internationally performed in countries as far as Afghanistan, Argentina, Canada, and Italy. Her pieces have also been performed by members of the Diane Moser Big Band including legendary tubist, Howard Johnson, Boston's Callithumpian Consort Percussion Trio, members of New York's renowned Bang On A Can and Asphalt Orchestra, the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra in Alberta, Canada, and the Spokane New Music Ensemble. Jessica has also composed and worked as a sound designer for theatre and dance mediums. Her most recent dance commission was by choreographer Augusto Soledade for his distinguished Augusto Soledade BrazzDance.
She has worked as a composer/music producer for MundoFOX's television series "Los Golden Boys" (produced by Oscar De La Hoya & Mario Lopez), PBS, Univision, Odyssey Earth Films, an IMAX conservation film project, award-winning COPILOT Music+ Sound, Universal Production Music, award-winning INC24 Imagination Productions, N.N. Media Productions, Open Door Film Productions, and many others. She's also an award recipient in the 2019 Hit Like A Girl International Competition: Music Technology/Beatmaking.
She has had the privilege to perform and/or record with numerous musicians and percussion artists including Grammy-nominated saxophonist Steve Elson, world-renowned Indian Carnatic Vocalist Sudha Ragunathan, jazz vibraphonist Arthur Lipner, Anders Astrand, Jean Geoffroy, Ney Rosauro, trumpet all-star John Walsh, and NY singer/songwriter Jo-Hannah Reynolds. She has performed throughout North and South America, Europe and has toured with the FROST Percussion Sextet in Japan.
In addition to being a music educator, Jessica is an active music consultant. She offers services in music career planning, education planning, music technology training, and artist development. She has presented multiple times at the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) /GenNext Conference in Anaheim, California, The Association of Popular Music Education (APME) conference, and was a guest speaker at the international music conference LeRock & L'Amour held at the Universite Paul-Valery in Montpellier, France. She also presented at the 2019 National Association for College Admission Counseling’s (NACAC) Performing Arts Fair where she spoke on leadership careers through the arts. In addition to speaking on music income opportunities at various colleges/universities, Jessica is a Voting Member for The Recording Academy, a NAMM/College Music Society Fellow grant recipient, and has spoken at numerous multimedia and leadership conferences. Jessica has also been selected to serve as a music technology judge for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Hit Like A Girl-Beats By Girlz International Beatmaking Contest. She is also Assistant Professor of Music Business at the University of North Texas.
Her pieces have received positive reviews from the Percussive Arts Society: Percussive Notes magazine, Digital Drummer magazine, Artburst Miami MAZ: MiamiArtZine and Music Connection Magazine for her compositional work with the Augusto Soledade's BrazzDance Production Shade.