Violinist and violist Nana Gaskins Vaughn has had a varied career as a performer and educator. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees at Indiana University, 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.
As a freelance musician, she is at home on all stages, large and small. She has performed with the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Washington National Opera, Indianapolis Symphony, and many orchestras across the country. In Spring 2020, she will perform with the Tongyeong International Music Festival Orchestra. She has performed as principal viola with Postclassical Ensemble, and is currently assistant principal with Reading Symphony, and a member of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, she has performed with the Carmel and Richmond Symphonies in Indiana, the latter where she served as principal viola for fourteen years.
As a chamber musician, she has appeared frequently on the Washington Musica Viva chamber recital series, at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she was an affiliate artist faculty member, and on interesting projects such as a quintet concert at the Iraqi Embassy with Grammy-nominated musician Rahim Alhaj.
She has also performed in concert in back up orchestras for the Moody Blues, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, and the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience at Capitol One Arena in Washington DC.
A passionate educator, Nana was a National Educator Grammy quarterfinalist. She currently teaches violin and viola, as well as String Methods at Elizabethtown College in PA. Previously, she was an Adjunct Professor and Affiliate Artist at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she has taught Arts in Education, String Methods, Instrumental Music Methods, and supervised student teachers. She has been a youth orchestra conductor in Indiana and Maryland for twelve years, and served as director for the UMBC Summer String Institute. She taught a string program for Howard County Public Schools, where she taught using an innovative combination of traditional school orchestra methodology with elements of teachings from the Suzuki, Paul Rolland, and Mimi Zweig philosophies and practices. During her time there, she was recognized as a distinguished educator, mentored student teachers from Peabody Conservatory, and received a Howard County Gifted and Talented Educator Award. As a member of the Howard County Music Educators Leadership Team, she helped plan professional development sessions for her teaching colleagues.
She is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator at the high school and college level. Baltimore County Public Schools has invited her to present a total of six professional development sessions for their music educators. A frequent adjudicator for high school music festivals in Maryland, she has been an adjudicator for county and state solo and ensembles, and All State. She has served as a violin and viola coach for the Georgetown University Orchestra in Washington D.C., for Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, as well as many high schools across the region.
Her pre-college private violin and viola students have achieved great success, having been accepted into nationally prestigious programs such as the National Youth Orchestra 2, Interlochen Viola Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute Junior Strings Intensive, and All Eastern Orchestra, as well as local programs such as Maryland All-State, Howard County GT Orchestras, Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras, and Peabody Youth Orchestras. She also helps aspiring music majors in their college music audition preparation. Her students have received scholarships to attend top music conservatories and colleges in the country.
As a music administrator and entrepreneur, she founded the Fishers (Indiana) Chamber Orchestra in 2005. A member of the executive committee of the Fishers Cultural Alliance, she was a principal participant in the development of the Town of Fishers' Master Plan for Arts and Culture. In gratitude for their contributions toward the arts, the Fishers Town Council made a proclamation of "Michael and Nana Vaughn Day" in 2009 to honor them. Nana also served as Executive Director for the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras and oversaw its merger with the Baltimore Symphony's Education department, becoming the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras. Nana's resume includes her complete experience.
Nana and her violinist husband, Michael, are the proud parents of three young adults: Anya Vaughn, a senior animation student at MICA; Braden Vaughn, a sophomore timpani and percussion major at CIM; and Mira Vaughn, her studio teaching assistant and an aspiring viola major. Nana performs on a 1980 d'amore style viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka.
As a freelance musician, she is at home on all stages, large and small. She has performed with the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Washington National Opera, Indianapolis Symphony, and many orchestras across the country. In Spring 2020, she will perform with the Tongyeong International Music Festival Orchestra. She has performed as principal viola with Postclassical Ensemble, and is currently assistant principal with Reading Symphony, and a member of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, she has performed with the Carmel and Richmond Symphonies in Indiana, the latter where she served as principal viola for fourteen years.
As a chamber musician, she has appeared frequently on the Washington Musica Viva chamber recital series, at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she was an affiliate artist faculty member, and on interesting projects such as a quintet concert at the Iraqi Embassy with Grammy-nominated musician Rahim Alhaj.
She has also performed in concert in back up orchestras for the Moody Blues, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, and the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience at Capitol One Arena in Washington DC.
A passionate educator, Nana was a National Educator Grammy quarterfinalist. She currently teaches violin and viola, as well as String Methods at Elizabethtown College in PA. Previously, she was an Adjunct Professor and Affiliate Artist at University of Maryland Baltimore County, where she has taught Arts in Education, String Methods, Instrumental Music Methods, and supervised student teachers. She has been a youth orchestra conductor in Indiana and Maryland for twelve years, and served as director for the UMBC Summer String Institute. She taught a string program for Howard County Public Schools, where she taught using an innovative combination of traditional school orchestra methodology with elements of teachings from the Suzuki, Paul Rolland, and Mimi Zweig philosophies and practices. During her time there, she was recognized as a distinguished educator, mentored student teachers from Peabody Conservatory, and received a Howard County Gifted and Talented Educator Award. As a member of the Howard County Music Educators Leadership Team, she helped plan professional development sessions for her teaching colleagues.
She is in demand as a clinician and adjudicator at the high school and college level. Baltimore County Public Schools has invited her to present a total of six professional development sessions for their music educators. A frequent adjudicator for high school music festivals in Maryland, she has been an adjudicator for county and state solo and ensembles, and All State. She has served as a violin and viola coach for the Georgetown University Orchestra in Washington D.C., for Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras, as well as many high schools across the region.
Her pre-college private violin and viola students have achieved great success, having been accepted into nationally prestigious programs such as the National Youth Orchestra 2, Interlochen Viola Institute, Boston University Tanglewood Institute Junior Strings Intensive, and All Eastern Orchestra, as well as local programs such as Maryland All-State, Howard County GT Orchestras, Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras, and Peabody Youth Orchestras. She also helps aspiring music majors in their college music audition preparation. Her students have received scholarships to attend top music conservatories and colleges in the country.
As a music administrator and entrepreneur, she founded the Fishers (Indiana) Chamber Orchestra in 2005. A member of the executive committee of the Fishers Cultural Alliance, she was a principal participant in the development of the Town of Fishers' Master Plan for Arts and Culture. In gratitude for their contributions toward the arts, the Fishers Town Council made a proclamation of "Michael and Nana Vaughn Day" in 2009 to honor them. Nana also served as Executive Director for the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras and oversaw its merger with the Baltimore Symphony's Education department, becoming the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras. Nana's resume includes her complete experience.
Nana and her violinist husband, Michael, are the proud parents of three young adults: Anya Vaughn, a senior animation student at MICA; Braden Vaughn, a sophomore timpani and percussion major at CIM; and Mira Vaughn, her studio teaching assistant and an aspiring viola major. Nana performs on a 1980 d'amore style viola made by Hiroshi Iizuka.