Cellist Staff Sergeant Clayton Vaughn of Meridian, Miss., joined “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band in June 2018.

Staff Sgt. Vaughn began his musical training on cello at age 11. After graduating in 2002 from Meridian High School, he attended the University of Louisville in Kentucky, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in cello performance in 2006 and studied with Paul York. He earned a master’s degree in cello performance in 2009 from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio where he studied with Dr. Melissa Kraut and Stephen Geber from the Cleveland Orchestra. In 2012 he earned a doctorate in cello performance from the University of Colorado in Boulder where he studied with Andras Fejer of the Takacs Quartet and Judith Glyde.

Prior to joining “The President’s Own,” Staff Sgt. Vaughn performed with Des Moines Metro Opera during the summer seasons of 2014-17, the Alabama Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham from 2014-18 and the Omaha Symphony in Nebraska from 2013-14, while also freelancing and teaching privately. In addition he has participated in the following summer music festivals: Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass., 2012-13; the National Repertory Orchestra in Breckenridge, Colo., 2011; the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, Calif., 2010; and Meadowmount in Westport, N.Y., 2008.

Staff Sgt. Vaughn performs regularly at the White House for State Dinners, receptions, and other White House functions, and throughout the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.