James Vaughen, from Champaign, Ill., entered the Curtis Institute of Music in 2018 and studies trumpet with David Bilger. All students at Curtis receive merit-based, full-tuition scholarships, and Mr. Vaughen is the Peter King Fellow.

Mr. Vaughen was co-principal trumpet of the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra (CYSO) from 2013 to 2017. He has appeared as a soloist with the CYSO, East Central Illinois Youth Orchestra, and University of Illinois Sinfonia da Camera. He has performed as a member of Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra of the U.S.A. and attended the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan.

In 2020 Mr. Vaughen was winner of the Roger Voisin Memorial Trumpet Competition and semifinalist in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. He was a 2017 National YoungArts Winner and participated in the National YoungArts Week in Miami, performing, and collaborating with artists from a variety of disciplines. In 2015, he placed second in the National Trumpet Competition and was featured on NPR’s From the Top.

Mr. Vaughen began studying the piano at age six and trumpet at age ten. His other teachers have included Ronald Romm, Nathan Mandel, Sal Percoco, and Aaron Romm. Before entering Curtis, he worked for a year with the AmeriCorps at Spring Initiative, a nonprofit transformative after-school program in the Mississippi Delta.