Bloomington, IN - Tiara Abraham starts her mornings like any other 18 year old, waking up and getting ready for school before getting a ride from her mom to the IU Bloomington campus to start her classes for the day. But unlike her peers her age, Tiara is not in the first semester of her Freshman year at IU. She is in the first year of the Doctoral program in vocal performance offered at the Jacobs School of Music studying opera. 

 

During a typical day of classes, Tiara tries not to practice for more than an hour per day to make sure she does not strain her voice. She works on various things from warmups to repertoire she might sing for her recital next semester. As she begins her practice session, she does many things like buzzing her lips while singing to warm up her voice properly, she drinks plenty of water to be sure her voice is strong and clear during her practicing. Since she is so much younger than her peers, it is detrimental that she does not push herself too far for fear of damaging her voice before it has fully matured. 

 

 

 

Her dedication to her voice at such a young age has not gone unnoticed. As her professor during her masters at IU, Professor of Voice, Patricia Stiles put it, “I think that in 10 years she’ll probably be one of the biggest things on the planet.” 

 

Tiara is a high lyric soprano singer, and has been growing her voice since a very young age. Around the time she was 7 years old her brother Tanishq began singing in a boys choir at their church. Tiara became obsessed with it and begged her parents for voice lessons. She has always had a strong voice, from these early years even before taking lessons she remembers singing common songs like Happy Birthday with vibrato, something very uncommon for her age. 

 

She eventually began taking lessons with Kate Murphy, a local vocal teacher in Sacramento who helped her to train her voice to eventually be strong enough to enter competitions. She went on to enter a national vocal competition, and won which led her to perform for the first time at Carnegie Hall at just 9 years old. 

 

After her amazing performance, she was invited back to perform for the summer gala that year as well, now as a 10-year-old. This time she was able to perform in the renowned Isaac Stern Auditorium also known as the Ronald O. Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall.

 

Being homeschooled from Kindergarten on, Tiara had the chance to pursue many academic programs from a young age. She grew up in Sacramento California with her mom, dad and brother, Tanishq. 

 

Her mom homeschooled both her and her brother and eventually they both began taking college level classes as early as the age of 7. By the time she was 14, Tiara had graduated from high school and was ready to transfer to the University of California, Davis as a junior. 

 

She spent 2 years at UC Davis studying in the field of vocal performance under Jonathan Nadel. During her time there she had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at sporting events and performed in many concerts at the school of music. 

 

In her last year at UC Davis, as she was beginning to consider different masters programs to attend, Tiara was given the opportunity to take a class with Jacobs School of Music faculty, Professor of Voice, Patricia Stiles. This lesson, along with the renowned opera department at the Jacobs School, was what encouraged Tiara to pursue her masters in vocal performance after graduating from UC Davis with her bachelors at just 16 years old. 

 

“She was not a person who was trying to act like she was the smartest person on the globe. She was just sort of a regular person.” Professor Stiles said about her first impression of Tiara. 

 

After officially graduating in the Spring of 2022 from UC Davis, Tiara and her mom, Taji Abraham, moved from California to Bloomington to officially begin her studies at the Jacobs School of Music in the fall. 

 

As the youngest student in her program, Tiara said she felt a slight disadvantage to her peers because of the abilities she had with her voice at her age, which was something Professor Stiles worked quite a bit on with her. Tiara said she was, “always trying to prove myself, that I have the technique and the talent.”  

 

Tiara completed her Masters at the Jacobs School of Music last year in 2024 and even performed the National Anthem at the Undergraduate IU commencement held at Memorial Stadium, being the youngest Masters student to graduate at IU that year. 

 

Eager to continue her studies, Tiara auditioned for and was accepted as a Doctoral student at Jacobs and is currently learning under Associate Professor of Music in Voice, Michelle DeYoung. 

 

As a Doctoral student, her schedule is much different to that of anything she has had in the past. She has had to dedicate herself to things like putting together her Doctoral Committee and finding a research topic, which is something that is always on her mind. As it is not required for the Doctoral program, she opted to not be in an ensemble this semester and focus on her work. 

She did however participate in the Ives Festival happening at the Jacobs School of Music in early October, celebrating Charles Ives 150th birthday. She performed Ein Ton by Ives, as well as multiple pieces with an ensemble. 

 

 

 

Outside of school, Tiara is active in the community as a Choral Scholar at her church, The First Christian Church of Bloomington. As a Choral Scholar she is one of the few members who are compensated weekly for her work with the group. On Sunday, October 13th, Tiara performed a solo during the service, also of an Ives piece titled, The Collection. 

 

The director of the FCC choir, Jan Harrington, was thrilled to have her join the group back in 2022, but was surprised when he found out her age originally. “We’ve been following Tiara’s progress with great pride. The older members of the choir, we’re all really happy to have her and her family. They’ve been a great blessing to us,” Harrington said. 

 

The Abraham’s have found a true sense of family in the FCC community, in a more literal way than some might imagine. Their “Bloomington Grandma,” as they call her, 97 year old Kate Kroll is always a highlight of their week. As they share in coffee and refreshments after the church service every week, the family, including Kate, share their stories from the week and what they will be up to in the days to come. Even helping Kate organize the text messages on her phone one Sunday while Tanishq and Bijou were in town visiting from California.  

 

Tiara’s parents have both come from successful backgrounds in their field. Her mother, Taji, as a Doctor of Veterinary science, and her father, Bijou, an expert in software engineering. They have done everything they can to support both of their children in their talents. Taji gave up her career in the veterinary field to homeschool both of the kids from a young age. 

 

The pride Taji and Bijou feel for their children is very obvious when talking with them. Tiara’s mom is an avid fan of taking photos of the family to document their accomplishments, both academic and otherwise. “Everything is photos, I try to capture as many as I can.” Taji said. 

 

Her brother, Tanishq, also a child prodigy in the world of Biomedical engineering graduated with his PhD at 19 years old from UC Davis back in 2023. Though her brother and dad still live in California, they make time to come and visit Bloomington often. 

 

Tiara plans to graduate with her Doctorate in the next 4 years or so and then go on to start a performance career in a young artist program somewhere. Eventually she says she would like to get a job at a university or conservatory to start her own studio. 

 

“She is an absolute delight and I’ve really loved teaching her because she brings a very positive attitude,” said Professor DeYoung. As Tiara continues through her programs at such a young age, she has shocked many by her talent but grown her gift with precision and years of hard work, moving and inspiring many along the way.