Jose Rosa, a percussionist from Humacao, Puerto Rico, began playing at five and taking formal lessons at the Escuela Libre De Música de Humacao at age 11. As a child, he played with the Humacao Symphonic Band under Professor German Peña Plaza's direction and traveled through the Caribbean, Central, and South America. Jose then received formal percussion lessons from Professor Jose "Pepe" Torres at the Escuela Libre de Música de Caguas at age 14. Under Torre's direction, Jose played with various local artists, the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra, and the Puerto Rico State Band.
He was accepted into the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music and studied percussion with Professor Jose Alicea. Under Alicea's direction, Jose played for the American youth symphony orchestra based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. After graduating from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor's degree in music, he pursued a Master of Music in Music Technology and Game Audio Production at Southern Utah University, graduating in 2022.
Currently, he is a Doctoral Candidate in Education at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
Throughout his life, Jose has had the opportunity to perform alongside renowned artists such as Arturo Sandoval (while at FIU), Tito Puente, Marcos Barrientos, Meñique, Rico Monaco, Eve Evans, Gregg Bissonette, Giovanni Hidalgo, Gypsy Kings, Gerson Kelly, Martin Valverde, Nestor Torres (while at FIU), Danilo Montero, Bobby Cruz, Richie Ray, Jose "Papo" Rivera, Charlene Stewart, “Steel Pan Virtuoso” Liam Teague, Joe Lovano, and many others. For several years, Jose also performed at Disney's Animal Kingdom in shows like "Tarzan Rocks" and "The Village Beatniks", as well as at Universal Studio's "The I Love Lucy tribute show!". His band serves as an opening act for artists such as Franco De Vita, and he records and performs as a guest artist for many universities in the United States and Costa Rica. In recognition of his contribution to music in Puerto Rico, Jose was inducted into the Puerto Rico Music Hall of Fame in 2015.
As an educator, Jose has written several instructional books, including "The Art of Latin Drumming," nominated for the 2013 Modern Drummer Readers Poll, "Beyond The Secret Hand/Mas Allá de la Mano Secreta," "Extreme and Killer 4-way Coordination" and "Timbales, the history of the instrument that became the heartbeat of Latin Music." Some of these titles are published under the Jose Rosa Music Publishing Company.
Jose is proud to endorse Pearl Drums and Percussion, Paiste Cymbals, Remo Drum Heads, Pro-Mark Drum Sticks and Mallets, Purecussion Percussion, Cymbag, and Cympad.