Jessica Zhou has served as Principal Harpist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops since the 2009–10 season, where she holds the Nicholas and Thalia Zervis Chair. Prior to joining the BSO, she was Principal Harpist of the New York City Opera for five seasons.

A winner of the 2001 Pro Musicis International Award, Zhou made her critically acclaimed New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. That same year, she became the first Chinese harpist to win top prizes in three of the world’s leading harp competitions: the Concours International de Harpe Lily Laskine in Deauville, France (Prix du Jury), the USA International Harp Competition (Fourth Prize), and the International Harp Contest in Israel (Second Prize),
where she also received the A.Z. Propes Prize. A two-time recipient of the American Harp Society’s Anne Adams Award, she has appeared in recitals across major musical centers in the United States, Mexico, and Asia. She has also served as chairman of the jury for the First Taiwan National Harp Competition and, in 2023, as a harp juror for the ARD International Music Competition in Munich.

As a concerto soloist, Zhou performs regularly with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Highlights include the 2018 world premiere of John Williams’s Highwood’s Ghost, written for her and Yo Yo Ma and broadcast on PBS Great Performances. She has also performed Mozart’s Concerto for Flute and Harp with Elizabeth Rowe at Symphony Hall, Tanglewood, and Suntory Hall in Tokyo on the BSO’s Japan tour under Andris Nelsons. Additional appearances include
performances with the Israel Philharmonic, Mainly Mozart Festival Orchestra, New York City Opera Orchestra, and the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, with whom she gave the world premiere of Haim Permont’s Double Harp Concerto.

An active chamber musician, Zhou performs with the Boston Chamber Music Society and the Mainly Mozart Festival and appears frequently with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players. She is featured in Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro on the ensemble’s recording of 20th-century French chamber music, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2013.

Born in Beijing, Zhou studied at the Interlochen Arts Academy and earned both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Nancy Allen. She serves on the faculties of Boston University, the New England Conservatory, and the Tanglewood Music Center.