Carol Theresa Vaness, also known as Carol Vaness, was born on July 27, 1952, in San Diego, and is an American lirico-spinto soprano and university professor. She appeared regularly at the New York City Opera from 1979 to 1983. She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1984 as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni and subsequently appeared at La Scala, the Paris Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her recording career began with Mozart's Don Giovanni (1984) and continued with Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 (1985), Mozart's Cosi fan tutte (1987), Puccini's Tosca (1993), Gluck's Iphigénie en Tauride (1993), Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (1995), Verdi's Aroldo (2001), and Albéniz's Pepita Jiménez. She earned acclaim for her Mozart roles, worked with conductors Riccardo Muti and James Levine, and taught voice at Indiana University.
