Margaret Elinor Tynes (September 11, 1919 – March 7, 2024) was an American opera singer.^[3][4][5]

Born in Saluda, Virginia, on September 11, 1919, Margaret Elinor Tynes was one of ten children born to Lucy Jane (née Rich) and Rev. J. W. Tynes.^[6] Her family later moved to Lynchburg and finally to Greensboro, North Carolina, where her father was the pastor of the Providence Baptist Church for 26 years.^[5][7]

Tynes went to James B. Dudley High School, where she sang in the school chorus and was mentored by Eloise Logan Penn.^[6]

She attended the Negro Agricultural and Technical College of North Carolina (A&T) in Greensboro, where she was named "Miss A&T" of 1939–1940 and graduated in 1941.^[8] Her two sisters also attended A&T, Katherine in 1935 and Angeline c. 1940 and all three were Miss A&Ts.^[6] She then studied voice at the Juilliard School in New York City^[9] and received a master's degree in music education from Columbia University in 1944.^[10]

Her first opera role was Lady Macbeth in 1952.^[11] During this period, she performed in a Harry Belafonte Broadway show called Sing Man, Sing!. She was a featured singer with the New York City Opera for five seasons^[12][13] and played Bess in Porgy and Bess there for six years.^[4]

Tynes was one of a group of artists to appear at the American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959, assembled by Ed Sullivan and sponsored by the US State Department.^[14] and was the first American singer to perform at the Budapest Opera after World War II^[13]

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a photograph of her taken by Carl Van Vechten in their collection.^[15] In 2001, she donated a collection of her papers and photographs to the A&T Bluford Library.^[5][9]

Margaret Tynes married Hans von Klier (1934-2000), an industrial designer of Czech German aristocratic descent. They made their home in Milan and on Lake Garda. Tynes returned to live in the United States when she was widowed.^[3]

Tynes died in Silver Spring, Maryland, on March 4, 2024, at the age of 104.^[4][3]