  With the new Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution, I derive a new parallactic
distance to the young sigma Orionis open cluster, which is a cornerstone region
for studying the formation and evolution of stars and substellar objects from
tens of solar masses to a few Jupiter masses. I started with the list of the 46
brightest cluster stars of Caballero (2007). After identifying the 24 TGAS
stars in the 30 arcmin-radius survey area and accounting for 11 FGKM-type
dwarfs and giants in the fore- and background, I got a list of 13 cluster
members and candidates with new parallaxes. Of them, I discarded five cluster
member candidates with questionable features of youth and/or discordant
parallaxes and proper motions, including a distant Herbig Ae/Be star, and
proceeded with the remaining eight stars. The sigma Orionis mean heliocentric
distance is d =360^{+44}_{-35} pc, which is consistent with a contemporaneous
interferometric determination that concludes a two-decade dispute on the
cluster distance. As a by-product, the re-classification of those five cluster
member candidates, now interlopers, shows a manifest deficit of cluster stars
between 1.2 and 2.1 Msol, which leaves the door open to new astrometric
membership analyses with the next Gaia data releases.
