Mrs. Jessica Hinkel is an oboist and music educator based on the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast. Originally from the southwest suburbs of Chicago, she holds a Master of Music degree in oboe performance from the University of South Alabama. She received both the Bachelor of Music degree in oboe performance and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her principal teachers are Rebecca Mindock, John Dee, and Allison Baker Wehrle.

An accomplished performer, Mrs. Hinkel currently performs with the Coastal Winds Adult Community Wind Ensemble. She has performed as an oboist with the William Carey University Orchestra and Symphonic Winds as well as the University of South Alabama Wind Ensemble and Symphony Orchestra. During her undergrad years, Mrs. Hinkel performed with the University of Illinois Hindsley Symphonic Band, Wind Orchestra, and Wind Symphony. She has also performed with the Alabama Winds in Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the Fox Valley Orchestra in Aurora, Illinois.

In 2017, Mrs. Hinkel was selected as a participant in the Madeline Island Seminar for Advanced Wind Chamber Music in LaPointe, Wisconsin, where she studied under oboist Laura Griffiths (San Francisco Ballet Orchestra). She has performed in lessons and masterclasses for Peter Cooper (University of Colorado-Boulder), Galit Kaunitz (University of Southern Mississippi), Zac Hammond (Charleston Symphony Orchestra), Lora Schaefer (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Johanna Cox Pennington (Louisiana State University), Jared Hauser (Vanderbilt University), Nancy Ambrose King (University of Michigan), Cynthia Lambrecht (Augustana College), and Celeste Johnson (University of Missouri-Kansas City).

Mrs. Hinkel also taught for three years with Bocal Majority Bassoon and Oboe Camps, helping to manage and teach summer double reed programs for middle and high school students in Chicago. She has served as the double reed instructor for Gulfport School District, Biloxi Public Schools, Ocean Springs Middle School, Gautier High School, Gautier Middle School, Phillips Preparatory School, Saraland City Schools, and Mary G. Montgomery High School. Mrs. Hinkel maintains a private oboe studio on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Mrs. Hinkel’s students have participated in the Mississippi Lions Band, the Mississippi ASBDA Middle School All-State Band, the Gulf Coast Band Directors Association Honor Band, and the Mobile County Honor Band. Mrs. Hinkel served for three years as the elementary music teacher at College Park Elementary School in Gautier, Mississippi. She is currently the band director at Vancleave Middle School in Vancleave, MS, where she teaches 6th through 8th grade band.

Mrs. Hinkel currently resides in Mobile, AL with her husband, Destin, and her two chihuahua puppies, Zoey and Gracie.