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 and authenticity 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 the 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. 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 for people experiencing homelessness. 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. Additionally, Vangjel helps run the IntersectKC Street Choir.

Vangjel is a 2025 recipient of ArtsKC’s Inspiration Grant. Her project, which runs from January-October 2026, will provide weekly family music classes and a monthly drum circle for people who experience homelessness or are extremely low-income. These classes are taking place in partnership with IntersectKC at the Independence Boulevard Christian Church in historic Northeast Kansas City.

Vangjel serves as Adjunct Professor of Music at Missouri Western State University where she teaches Music Entrepreneurship and also performs with the Faculty Brass Quintet, and also teaches Arts Entrepreneurship at the Kansas City Art Institute. She is a longstanding member of the internationally-acclaimed Fountain City Brass Band and is an active freelancer in the KC metro. Previously, she was Adjunct Professor of Trumpet at Louisiana State University, a member of the LSU Faculty Brass Quintet, and a contractor with the 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.