A deep love for poetry and song has taken Filipino-Chinese contralto Pauline Tan across the globe to pursue a career in music. She uses her 'plush' and 'acrobatic' voice (Chicago Tribune) not only to open channels of honest communication with her audiences, but also to create artistic bridges to little-known musical worlds.

This 2023-2024 season, she is slated to join Opera San José in a workshop performance of Shinji Eshima’s Zheng singing the role of Suzuki, as well as singing the role of Attendant 5/Traveller 5 in Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose.

Having finished her Young Artist residency at Chicago Opera Theater, Pauline appeared in their 2022-’23 season as Beryl Bennett in the première of Shawn Okpebholo and Mark Campbell's The Cook-Off, in addition to covering Joan Clarke in the première of Justine F. Chen’s The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, Florence Pike (Britten’s Albert Herring), and the Deaconess (Szymanowski’s King Roger).

In her concert work as in her operatic work, Pauline seeks out artists and organizations that share her vision of bringing more diversity, re-imagining, and compassion into the arts. This season she is joining LYNX Project as a resident artist, and she has appeared in concerts with non-profit organizations such as Collaborative Arts Institute Chicago and Aural Compass Projects. She has been an active member of the ACP initiative Wear Yellow Proudly, which was begun to combat the devastating upsurge in xenophobia directed towards Asian people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pauline was the first featured artist for the initiative in May 2020, and also appeared in ACP’s Songs Without Borders recital in 2019, which exclusively featured composers, poets, and performers who were American immigrants or refugees.

During the 2021-2022 season Pauline sang in the chorus of Cincinnati Opera’s summer festival (Aida, Pirates of Penzance, La bohème), performed in two world premières at Chicago Opera Theater (Quamino’s Map, chorus; The Beekeeper, Melissa), and covered none other than Stephanie Blythe, as Don José, in COT’s gender-bending production of Carmen, as well as covering the role of Queen Sophine (Becoming Santa Claus).

Pauline has appeared as a soloist in major works including Duruflé’s Requiem, Handel’s Messiah, and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Her planned 2020 debut with The Orchestra Now as the alto soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Past operatic appearances include Amastre (Serse) and Ottavia (L’Incoronazione di Poppea) and scenes from Carmen (title role) and Falstaff (Mrs. Quickly).

Pauline is currently with Chicago Opera Theater/Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University’s Professional Diploma and Young Artist Program and holds a Master's degree from The Graduate Vocal Arts Program at the Bard College Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory.