Logan Tanner
Countertenor
Handel’s Messiah (March 30, 2023)

Bio:

Praised for his “striking musicality, clarity, and strong coloratura” (Opera Canada), countertenor Logan Tanner has performed on operatic stages throughout the United States and abroad. He recently performed the role of Ruggiero in Handel’s Alcina at the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and “commanded the role of Oberon charmingly” (Opera Canada) in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dreamwith the Halifax Opera Festival.  

In the 2021-2022 season, Tanner made company debuts with Opera Santa Barbara in the role of Athamas in Handel’s Semele, Gulfshore Opera as Prince Orlofsky in J. Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and Opera San José as the Spirit in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.   

Tanner has garnered awards in numerous competitions, placing first in the Choralis Young Artist Competition, Ise-Shima International Singing Competition, New Opera Stars Vocal Competition, New York Classical Music Society International Competition, and the Vano Visioli International Opera Competition. He took third prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition and 5th in the Opera Tools International Competition, and has won the American Prize in Opera and the Pasadena Vocal Competition Special Encouragement Award. In addition, Tanner was granted honorable mention by the NOMEA International Competition and the Vienna New Year Concert International Competition.  

Tanner has been a Stern fellow at SongFest, and a Vocal Fellow at The Music Academy of the West, where he worked with famed mezzo-soprano, Marilyn Horne. He has been engaged as soloist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Austin Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Europa, North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, the Axelrod Performing Arts Center, New York Repertory Orchestra, the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, Choralis, Chorus Austin, New York Chamber Choir, the Henry Purcell Society of Boston, La Fiocco, the Arcadia Players, Monmouth Civic Chorus, the Westchester Oratorio Society, and the Sparkill Concert Series.  

Tanner’s concert repertoire spans a wide breadth of material, and he is known for bringing a flowing bel canto dimension to the alto solos in Handel’s Messiah, the Roasting Swan in Orff’s Carmina Burana, the Brahms Viola Songs, and the treble solos in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, which he performed alongside Jamie Bernstein, author, and daughter of Leonard Bernstein. Tanner has also appeared in concert alongside renowned artists including Cynthia Phelps of the New York Philharmonic, and Martin Katz. Tanner will make several international debuts in the 2021 season including appearances in Australia, Singapore, New Zealand, and Germany.   

A native of Texas, Mr. Tanner started his musical studies as a tenor at Baylor University and went on to graduate studies at Westminster Choir College. There he studied with Christopher Arneson who encouraged him to become a countertenor. Mr. Tanner dove into the repertoire and found it a perfect match.    

He entered the 2017 New York Classical Music Society International Competition and won it. “It was kind of mind-blowing,” he said. “I never looked back after that.”