BIOGRAPHY
Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Tichina Vaughn commands stages at home and abroad with her “superb singing” and “electrifying presence”. Her distinguished career spans the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Arena di Verona and Semperoper Dresden and many others, with signature roles including Amneris, Azucena, Ulrica, Herodias, and Klytemnestra. A celebrated interpreter of opera, concert, and recital repertoire, Vaughn is also a passionate educator and mentor. She serves as Associate Professor of Music in Voice at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where she received the 2025 Trustees Teaching Award and is a frequent guest adjudicator and masterclass facilitator. Ms. Vaughn holds the prestigious German title of Kammersängerin in recognition of her long-standing, extraordinary career and dedication to the art form. Highlights of the current season include concerts with the Winston Salem Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, Elgar’s Sea Pictures with Welsh National Opera, and debut performances of Porgy and Bess at the Komische Oper Berlin.
Recent performance highlights include the Metropolitan Opera as Maria in Porgy and Bess, Monisha in Treemonisha with Washington National Opera, as well as concert appearances with IU University Orchestra, Jeffery Meyer, conductor in Jessie Montgomery’s: Five Freedom Songs and at the Festival Smetana Litomysl with the Janáček Philharmonic Ostrava, J. David Jackson – conductor.
Recent career highlights have included Zia Principessa and Zita (Il Trittico) at Welsh National Opera with Maestro Carlo Rizzi, as the Witch ("Hansel and Gretel"), Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Azucena (Il Trovatore), Piedmont Opera,the Old Lady in Candide at the Semperoper and Opera Lyon, Amneris in Aida with Fort Worth Opera and Cincinnati Opera; Monisha in Joplin’s Treemonisha at Opera Theater St. Louis; Emelda in Terence Blanchard’s Champion with Boston Lyric Opera; Maria in Porgy and Bess with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester at the Lucerne Festival, as well as Beethoven Symphony No. 9; and the world premiere of “Many Mansions” by Diane White-Clayton with the Landmarks Orchestra Boston and Christopher Wilkins.
Tichina Vaughn’s extensive European experience includes principal artist positions at Semperoper Dresden from 2010 till 2018, and at Staatstheater Stuttgart From 1996 to 2006 where she was featured 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), Widow Begbick (Mahagonny), Venus (Tannhauser), Giulietta (The Tales of Hoffmann), Fricka (Die Walküre), Waltraute (Gotterdammerung), and Erda (Siegfried) and (Das Rheingold).
As a visiting artist, Ms. Vaughn made her Italian debut as Azucena Il Trovatore under the baton of Nicola Luisotti at Teatro Verdi Trieste. She performed Ulrica in Un ballo in Maschera at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro Massimo Palermo, Teatro delle Muse Ancona, Teatro Verdi Salerno, and Teatro Filarmonico Verona. She became a regular guest at the Arena di Verona where she essayed more than 50 performances of Amneris in Franco Zeffirelli’s Aida. Additional success in Italy include Amneris at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and at the Festival Veneto as well as Azucena at Arena di Verona, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova and the Festival Arturo Toscanini Busseto. Further international engagements have included Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Budapest National Opera and Greek National Opera, Amneris in Aida at Opera Hong Kong, Herodias in Salome at Las Palmas Opera, Erda in Der Ring des Nibelungen at Finnish National Opera, Augsburg Opera, and the State Opera Kassel, Ulrica in Un ballo in maschera and Venus in Tannhäuser at Hamburg State Opera, Maria in Porgy and Bess at the Bregenz Festival, Mistress Quickly in Falstaff at Korean National Opera, as well as Klytemnestra in Elektra, Zia Principessa in Suor Angelica, and Princess Eboli in Don Carlo with Opera Frankfurt.
In North America Ms. Vaughn has additionally appeared as Azucena in Il Trovatore with Sacramento Opera, Amneris in Aida with Michigan Opera Theater, Tulsa Opera, Seattle Opera, and Orange County Opera, Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera at San Francisco Opera, and La Frugola in Il Tabarro with Los Angeles Opera.
Tannhauser Semperoper Dresden
In addition to her many operatic successes, Vaughn has performed symphonic concerts, chamber concerts, and recitals with 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, and many others. Featured works include the Verdi Requiem, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and Bernstein’s Jeremiah Symphony.Her discography includes the Grammy winning Metropolitan Opera recording of the Gershwins: Porgy and Bess; the Naxos award-winning Staatsoper Stuttgart Der Ring des Nibelungen; Schwanda the Bagpiper - Live from the Semperoper; and her solo portrait CD entitled Christmas at My House.
In addition to her title as Kammersängerin, Tichina Vaughn has received many awards and honors during her distinguished career including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Award, the Richard Tucker Foundation Study Grant Award, the Opera Index Vocal Competition Award, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation Award, and a Birgit Nilsson Foundation Award. Most recently she was presented the Consul General’s Award for Cultural Diplomacy from the Consulate General in Milan.
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. She is Founder and Executive Artistic Director of the LC Vaughn Sankofa Memorial Arts Fund which awards the Sankofa Award annually to an emerging young artist.