James Vaughen.
The Minnesota Orchestra has appointed James Vaughen as principal trumpet. Currently assistant principal trumpet with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Vaughen is a 2023 graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music. In Minnesota, he succeeds Manny Laureano, who will retire from the principal trumpet post at the end of August after 44 years in the Minnesota Orchestra. Vaughen has performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, spent four months touring with the Canadian Brass, won the top prize at the 2023 Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments, served as assistant principal trumpet of Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival, and held a one-year post as principal with the Indianapolis Symphony. He joined the Detroit Symphony in September 2024 as assistant principal. He has won first prize in several trumpet competitions. Vaughen performed on four continents with Carnegie Hall’s National Youth Orchestra from 2015 through 2017 and was a member of the Pacific Music Festival Academy in 2018 and a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 2020 and 2021. A native of Champaign, Illinois, Vaughen began playing trumpet at age 10 and was later admitted to the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra.
