About this Artist

Jessica McJunkins, née Lady Jess, performs in NYC and LA. LJ leads strings under the baton of Darin Atwater’s Soulful Symphony in Baltimore, is Co-Artistic Director and concertmistress of the Urban Playground Chamber Orchestra (UPCO) in New York City, is a regular Los Angeles session musician, and a soloing member of Beyoncé K Carter’s band. Artists credits include collaborations with Stevie Wonder, The Roots, J.Lo, Max Richter, Alicia Keys, Hans Zimmer, Diana Ross, Spike Lee, One Direction, Terence Blanchard, Jay Z, JLo, Solange and more. TV credits include The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with The Roots, Saturday Night Live, and more.

Recent projects include the Emmy-nominated documentary Homecoming with accompanying live album, the On The Run II Tour with Beyonce and Jay-Z, recording and arranging strings while on tour with the Carters’, for the Grammy-nominated joint album Everything is Love, and recently released soundtracks to Disney’s The Lion King with Hans Zimmer. As a session musician in Los Angeles, she can also be heard on the soundtrack of Charlie’s Angels, It II and more. While in LA, LJ also performs with the Hollywood Bowl orchestra, most recently for performances of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, and Disney Pixar’s Coco live.

Upcoming projects include a 2020 solo debut at Disney Hall (Los Angeles) in collaboration with Nicole Miller, for and by San Francisco MOMA, and panel discussions in New York and Detroit at SphinxCon 2020, an international conference for Black and LatinX classical musicians.