Merrill Hall, MU104A
Tichina Vaughn is associate professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she was awarded a 2025 IU Trustees Teaching Award.
Internationally celebrated for her “superb, rich singing” and serious “theatrical presence,” the Grammy-winning American mezzo-soprano has performed leading roles in the world’s most important opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, La Scala Milan, Royal Opera Covent Garden, and the Semperoper Dresden. Equally at home in opera, concert, and recital repertoire, Vaughn is recognized for her artistry, versatility, and commitment to uplifting diverse voices in classical music.
Vaughn began her international operatic career as a member of the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artist Program, and in the 2025-26 season, she returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Maria in Porgy and Bess and celebrates a role and house debut as Monisha in Treemonisha with Washington National Opera.
Successes in season 2024-25 included the Old Lady in Candide with Semperoper Dresden, mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, and her debut at Welsh National Opera as Zia Principessa and Zita (Il Trittico) under Maestro Carlo Rizzi.
Previous season highlights include her Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut as the Witch (Hansel and Gretel), Azucena (Il Trovatore) for Piedmont Opera, reengagements at the Metropolitan Opera as the Hostess of the Inn (Boris Gudonov), Mere Jeanne (Dialogues de Carmélites), Erste Magd (Elektra), and Maria (Porgy and Bess). Further international engagements have included appearances with Maestro Alan Gilbert at the Lucerne Festival Switzerland in Porgy and Bess (Maria) and her debut at the Opéra National de Lyon as the Old Lady (Candide).
In North America, Vaughn recently appeared as Amneris (Aida) at Fort Worth Opera and Cincinnati Opera and made her Opera Theatre of Saint Louis debut as Monisha in a new production of Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha.
From 2010 till 2018, she was an ensemble member at the Semperoper Dresden, where she was heard as Herodias (Salome), Azucena (Il Trovatore), Venus (Tannhäuser), Ulrica (A Masked Ball), Ortrud (Lohengrin), Eboli (Don Carlo), Klytemnestra (Elektra), and the Witch (Hansel and Gretel), among others.
From 1996 to 2006, Vaughn was a principal artist at the Stuttgart State Opera, where she was awarded the title of Kammersängerin for her successes in such roles as Eboli (Don Carlo), Azucena (Il Trovatore), Widow Begbick (Mahagonny), Venus (Tannhauser), Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffmann), Arnalta (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Herodias (Salome), Fricka (Die Walküre), Waltraute (Gotterdammerung), and Erda (Siegfried) and (Das Rheingold).
Vaughn’s additional international engagements have included Amneris in Franco Zeffirelli’s Aida at the Arena di Verona, where she essayed more than 50 performances, and innumerable performances at important theaters and concert halls throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
In addition to her many operatic successes, Vaughn has performed symphonic concerts, chamber concerts, and recitals in prestigious concert halls around the world. Featured works include the Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony. Orchestras she has performed with include the Berlin Philharmonic, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Kennedy Center, Jerusalem Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Stuttgart Philharmonic, and the National Symphony of Ireland. She has collaborated with maestros James Conlon, Placido Domingo, James Levine, Fabio Luisi, Nicola Luisotti, Bobby McFerrin, Daniel Oren, Sir Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovich, Nello Santi, and Omer Meir Welber, among others.
Vaughn has received many awards and honors during her distinguished career, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award, Richard Tucker Foundation Study Grant Award, Opera Index Vocal Competition Award, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Award, and Birgit Nilsson Foundation Award. Most recently, she was presented the Consul General’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy from the Consulate General in Milan.
Her discography includes the Grammy-winning Metropolitan Opera recording of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, the Stuttgart State Theater’s Der Ring Des Nibelungen, and her solo portrait CD, Christmas at My House. Additionally she appears on the release Schwanda The Bagpiper—Live from the Semperoper.
As an active voice teacher and mentor, Vaughn has been artist-in-residence at her alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and serves as artistic advisor for SAS Performing Arts Company NYC and as a faculty clinician with Opera Programs Berlin.