READ ABOUT ME
Nick Hmeljak bio
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Nick Hmeljak is a trumpet and composer based in Kansas City, MO. His fusion quintet, Open Channel, performs regularly around the midwest. Open Channel has played at KC Winter Jazz Fest, Prairie Village Jazz Fest, The Jazz at the Q series at Quality Hill Playhouse, KKFI Radio, The Blue Room, The Ship, In The Lowest Ferns, and many more venues and events. The band features some of Kansas Cities most creative and fun musicians to hang out with including Matt Robertson, Andrew Voggesser, Isaiah Petrie, Aidan Murrow, John Fraka, Jaylen Ward, Daul Lee, and Zach Arias.
In addition to band leading, Nick is a Charlotte Street Resident and performs regularly as a sideman for R&B, Cumbia, Musical Theater, and party bands in addition to doing masterclasses, clinics, and private lessons for local high school music programs. Nick graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2023 with a B.M in Jazz Studies and has been a student of Adam Larson, Stan Kessler, Jamey Simmons, and Michael Arndt.
DEBUT ALBUM "ALIVE" COMING FALL 2026
OPEN CHANNEL BIO
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Open Channel is a collective of musicians in the Kansas City area formed by Nick Hmeljak in 2024 that plays original music and standards drawing from Jazz, R&B, Rock. With a rotating instrumentation of vibraphone, guitar, synths, trumpet, bass, and drums, Open Channel constantly explores new textures and group dynamics creating a fresh perspective every show.
Open Channel shares the band's lived experiences with its audience, dedicating songs to core memories, transformative experiences, and times worth remembering. Open Channel embraces the full scope of human connection in its performance, creating a time and place for raw emotional expression to manifest through music. Open Channel's debut album, ALIVE, distills the bands live sound into an archive of tracks, capturing the moments that make them ALIVE.
TESTIMONIALS
“Open Channel, led by Nick Hmeljak, provided a fantastic master class for the Shawnee Mission South jazz band. It was so inspiring for my students to not just hear the great musicianship but also to see the constant non-verbal communication between these incredible musicians during each number! Each musician has so much passion for their craft! My students loved the chance to ask questions of the performers and some even had the opportunity to sit in on a blues number! Great session!” - Steve Adams, Shawnee Mission South High School Band Director (Masterclass, Winter 2026)
