ABOUT

Photograph by Titilayo Ayangade // titilayoandco.com

BIOGRAPHY

Tanner Porter is a composer-performer and songwriter. In her “original art songs that are by turns seductive and confessional” (Steve Smith, The New Yorker), Tanner explores her passion for storytelling, often framing her music and words within the context of the natural landscapes she grew up in—the canyons, tides, and wildfires of the California coast. Tanner’s works have been commissioned and premiered by the Albany Symphony Orchestra with conductor David Alan Miller, the American Composers Orchestras Connecting ACO Community virtual series, the New York Youth Symphony with conductor Michael Repper (First Music program), Nu Deco Ensemble with conductor Jacomo Bairos, the University of Michigan’s University Symphony Orchestra with conductor Kenneth Kiesler, the Yale Philarmonia with conductor Julian Pellicano, and the Phillips Exeter Academy combined choir and chamber orchestra with conductor Rohan Smith. She recently collaborated with choreographer Claudia Schreier on a new work for the Boston Ballet, set to an orchestrated version of her string quartet “Six Sides from the Shape of Us,” with music direction by Mischa Santora. As an arranger, Tanner orchestrated Grammy award-winning songwriter Aoife O’Donovan’s song-cycle “America, Come” for premiere with the Orlando Philharmonic and music director Eric Jacobsen. Tanner has attended the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the Aspen Music Festival. Her works have been presented at Carnegie Hall, the Prototype Festival at the HERE Arts Center (Magdalene, 2020 featuring Danielle Birrittella and Ariana Daub with direction by Zoe Aja Moore and music direction by Mila Henry), the Miami Light Box, the Mizzou International Composers Festival, New Music Detroit’s Strange Beautiful Music, and New Music Gathering. She was a 2019 recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Scholarship. Her most recent album, The Summer Sinks, was recorded with LA-based studio Oak House Recording and can be heard on all streaming platforms. Tanner holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan’s SMTD (BM) and the Yale School of Music (MM). She has studied with composers Evan Chambers, Michael Daugherty, Aaron Jay Kernis, Kristin Kuster, Hannah Lash, David Lang, and Christopher Theofanidis. She is a member of ANTiCX collective.