Adjunct Faculty, VIOLA, Dewberry School of Music, CVPA
Contact Information
Campus: Fairfax
Building: Music Theater Building
Email: nvaughn4@gmu.edu
Biography
Nana Gaskins Vaughn, Adjunct Applied Faculty in Viola at the Dewberry School of Music at George Mason University, is in high demand as a freelance musician and teacher in the Mid-Atlantic region. A passionate educator, Vaughn founded Violin2Viola, a series of international online workshops sponsored by Shar Music that are designed to help violinists learn to play and teach the viola. At the college level, she has also taught at The Sunderman Conservatory of Music at Gettysburg College, Elizabethtown College, Georgetown University Orchestra, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and Purdue University.
As a violist, she plays regularly with the Baltimore Symphony, Washington National Opera, and National Symphony, performing with some of the world's most renowned conductors and musicians. She has served as principal viola with Postclassical Ensemble and Opera Italiana; she is currently assistant principal viola of the Reading Symphony and is also a section viola player in the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. She performed in the orchestra for the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors attended by President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, and other dignitaries. Nana's chamber music partners have included members of the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony, and the Cleveland Orchestra. Vaughn has performed frequently on the Washington Musica Viva chamber recital series and most recently, performed on-screen in a small ensemble in the documentary, Avenegar, featuring the composition of Dr. Reza Vali. The film was the subject of a screening and panel discussion at UCLA in 2022.
Ms. Vaughn earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and Master of Arts in Teaching degrees at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied violin with Paul Biss, viola with Atar Arad, and chamber music with the late Rostislav Dubinsky. After college, she has had additional studies with Choong-Jin Chang, principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. She resides in Ellicott City, Maryland and performs on a 1980 d'amore style viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka of Media, Pennsylvania.
Degrees
MAT, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music
BM, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music