Merrill Hall, MU104A
Tichina Vaughn is associate professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Celebrated for her “superb, rich singing” and serious “theatrical presence,” Vaughn, a Grammy-winning American mezzo-soprano, began her international operatic career as a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Program and is an important presence among the world’s leading opera houses.
Recent success have included her summer 2024 debut at the Welsh National Opera as Zia Principessa and Zita (Il Trittico) under Maestro Carlo Rizzi, her Royal Opera House Covent Garden debut as the Witch ("Hansel and Gretel"), Azucena (Il Trovatore) for Piedmont Opera, as well returning to the Metropolitan Opera as the Hostess of the Inn (Boris Gudonow), and roles in Poulenc's Dialogues de Carmélites, R. Strauss's Elektra and Gershwin's Porgy and Bess.
Upcoming engagements include her return to the Semperoper as the Old Lady in Candide, Mezzo soloist in Verdi’s Requiem with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, as well as Maria in Porgy and Bess with the Metropolitan Opera.
Highlights of previous seasons have included performances as The Old Lady in Candide with Opéra National de Lyon; Amneris in Aida with Fort Worth Opera; Monisha in Joplin’s Treemonisha at Opera Theater St. Louis; Emelda in Terence Blanchard’s Champion with Boston Lyric Opera; Amneris in Aida at the Cincinnati 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. She was heard as Ulrica in Un Ballo in Maschera at San Francisco Opera, La Frugola in Il Tabarro with Los Angeles Opera, Amneris in Aida with Seattle Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Tulsa Opera, and Orange County Opera, as well as Azucena in Il Trovatore with Sacramento Opera among others.
In addition to serving as principal artist with Dresden Semper Opera (2010 - 2018) and with Stuttgart State Opera (1996 - 2006), Vaughn's international engagements have included Azucena in Il Trovatore at the Budapest and Greek National Operas, 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, 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 and Amneris in Franco Zeffirelli’s Aida at the Arena di Verona where she essayed more than 50 performances.
She also performed Amneris at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, and at the Festival Veneto as well as Azucena at Teatro Carlo Felice Genova and the Festival Arturo Toscanini Busseto.
Her operatic repertoire includes more than 50 performed roles and numerous concert and orchestra pieces.