Jena Vangjel is a dynamic freelance trumpeter, teaching artist, and arts administrator based in Kansas City, MO. Equally at home on stage, in the classroom, and in the community, she brings passion, creativity, and heart to every facet of her work.

She has performed with orchestras across the country, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Alabama Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Tucson Symphony, and Louisiana Philharmonic, among others.

A fierce advocate for music as a tool for connection and healing, Vangjel’s community-driven work began with Street Symphony in Los Angeles, an acclaimed organization that brings live classical music to those affected by homelessness and incarceration. There, she served as both a performer and administrator—an experience that continues to shape her mission today. In 2018, she performed in Japan for communities still recovering from the 2011 tsunami, offering music as a gesture of solidarity and remembrance.

Later that year, while living in Baton Rouge, she founded Community of Note—a project devoted to building relationships and connection through music. The organization partnered closely with the Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless and the St. Vincent de Paul Family Shelter, providing accessible programming for Baton Rouge’s most vulnerable residents. Now based in Kansas City, Community of Note offers Mommy and Me music classes at the Rose Brooks Domestic Violence Shelter, continuing its mission of music-led connection.

Vangjel teaches for Harmony Project KC and serves as Adjunct Professor of Music at Missouri Western State University, where she also performs with the MoWest Faculty Brass Quintet. She is Principal Trumpet of the Northland Symphony and plays with the Fountain City Brass Band. Previously, she was Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at Louisiana State University, a member of the LSU Faculty Brass Quintet, and a contractor with Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge.

She holds a Master of Music in Trumpet Performance from The Colburn School in Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory.