Jessica A. Jensen (she, her, hers)

Jessica Jensen is a Wisconsin-based trumpet player and pedagogue. A versatile performer, she can be seen playing with orchestras, bands, jazz ensembles, and chamber groups across the Midwest. Notably, she is a member of the award-winning V3NTO Brass Trio, a Chicago-based ensemble dedicated to expanding the brass trio repertoire through performance, commissioning works, and educational outreach. V3NTO won the 2012 Chicago Brass Festival Ensemble Competition and was a quarterfinalist in the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. As an enthusiast of early brass music, Jensen has presented historically informed performances on baroque trumpet and cornetto. 

Jensen’s musical interests do not end there. She has appeared several times at the North American Brass Band Association competition with the Madison Brass Band on soprano cornet. In the jazz realm, Jensen has performed regularly as the lead trumpet player with the Paul Dietrich Jazz Ensemble, and in 2019 she performed and taught in Camagüey, Cuba as part of a cultural exchange program with the Madison Jazz All-Stars. She also enjoys playing in pit orchestras, and has appeared frequently in both opera and musical theater productions.

Jessica is a dedicated educator and serves as an Adjunct Professor of Music at Ripon College where she teaches applied brass lessons and first-year interdisciplinary courses that examine the intersection between music, culture, and identity. She is also a Lecturer of Music at Lawrence University, where she co-teaches applied trumpet and brass pedagogy courses. Some of her research interests include brass pedagogy and music performance anxiety. Her article, "What If I'm Not the Problem?: How to Cultivate a Studio Environment That Mitigates Performance Anxiety," was published in the October 2025 edition of The International Trumpet Guild Journal.

Jessica earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Lawrence University and subsequently received Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where she served as the second trumpet in the renowned Wisconsin Brass Quintet, the university’s faculty ensemble-in-residence. 

For Jensen, trumpet has always been a source of solace amidst the chaos of life. She finds deep meaning in the lifelong process of self-discovery that comes with the study of trumpet. She finds great joy in sharing those introspective experiences with others through teaching and performing. When not making music, she enjoys spending time with her fellow trumpet-playing spouse and their child while attempting to manage the pandemonium caused by their overly enthusiastic golden retriever.