Carl Tanner (born 1962, Arlington, Virginia) is an American operatic tenor.
Carl Tanner (born 1962, Arlington, Virginia) is an American operatic tenor.
Born into "very modest means," Carl Tanner's earliest exposure to music was in the form of country icons such as John Denver, Willie Nelson, and Roy Clark. He began taking violin lessons at the age of 13 and, although he never took the instrument seriously, Tanner claims that this was the start of his love for classical music. A neighbor convinced him to try out for the high school chorus after hearing him sing in the shower, and after a year of singing as soloist for the chorus he auditioned for The Madrigals. [1]
After graduating from Washington-Lee High School in Arlington, Virginia, Tanner attended the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music at Shenandoah University [2] in Winchester, Virginia where in 1985 he earned a Bachelor's degree. Upon his return to Arlington he enrolled in the Northern Virginia Trucking Academy and spent the next several years as a big rig truck driver. To earn extra money he moonlighted as a modern-day bounty hunter for Arlington-area bail bondsmen.
A turning point for Tanner came one day while he was inching his way along Interstate 95 in the cab of his 18-wheeler, singing the Giacomo Puccini aria "E lucevan le stelle" from Act III of Tosca to pass the time, when a woman in a convertible in the next lane called up to him: "Is that you, or is that the radio?" "That's me, lady," Tanner replied. "Well then, you've missed your calling," the woman declared. "You should be singing for a living, not driving." [3]
Soon thereafter Tanner decided to embark upon a musical career. With the support of his employer, he moved to New York City in 1990 and, in late 1991 while working as a singing waiter in the restaurant Bianchi and Margarita's, he was heard by Richard Gaddes, the head of the Santa Fe Opera, who arranged for him to join the Apprentice Program for Singers for 1992 (and then 1993) to obtain more training. [4] His most recent work was the role of Otello in Palm Beach Opera's Otello.
One of Tanner's first breaks came from the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, which signed him in 1994 to sing the title role in the rarely performed Edgar by Puccini. Tanner has since starred in a variety of leading roles in major opera houses, including Pagliacci in La Monnaie, Brussels, "Cavaradossi" in the Minnesota Orchestra production of Tosca , and Radames (alongside soprano Angela Brown) in Opera Pacific's Aida .
After performances with the Washington National Opera in their 2004-2005 season productions of Samson and Delilah and Il Trovatore , he returned to Santa Fe to sing "Calaf" in Turandot during the company's 2005 summer season. Tanner has also sung Calaf at many major opera houses in Germany plus, in 2006, he sang the role at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino under the direction of Zubin Mehta and toured with that festival organization to Japan for several more performances.
On the concert stage Tanner has performed as soloist with many symphony orchestras including the St. Louis and Atlanta Symphonies, and the Roanoke and West Virginia Symphony orchestras in Verdi's Requiem . Tanner sang "O Holy Night" at the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the White House in 2004. [5] He has recorded Puccini's Edgar (title role) and the role of Menalaeus in Richard Strauss' Die ägyptische Helena with Deborah Voigt. In November 2006 Tanner released a CD of Christmas songs entitled Hear the Angel Voices.
He was inducted as a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity on August 8, 2005. [6] [7] [8]
Tanner received an Honorary Doctorate in Music from his alma mater, Shenandoah University in 2009. [2]
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below middle C to the G above middle C (i.e. B2 to G4) in choral music, and from the second B flat below middle C to the C above middle C (B♭2 to C5) in operatic music, but the range can extend at either end. Subtypes of tenor include the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, and tenor buffo or spieltenor.
Renata Tebaldi was an Italian lirico-spinto soprano popular in the post-war period, and especially prominent as one of the stars of La Scala, San Carlo and, especially, the Metropolitan Opera. Often considered among the great opera singers of the 20th century, she focused primarily on the verismo roles of the lyric and dramatic repertoires. Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini called her voice "la voce d'angelo", and La Scala music director Riccardo Muti called her "one of the greatest performers with one of the most extraordinary voices in the field of opera."
Spinto is a vocal term used to characterize a soprano or tenor voice of a weight between lyric and dramatic that is capable of handling large musical climaxes in opera at moderate intervals.
José Luis Victor Cura Gómez is an Argentine operatic tenor, conductor, director, scenographer and photographer known for intense and original interpretations of opera characters, notably Otello in Verdi’s Otello, Samson in Saint-Saëns’ Samson et Dalila, Canio in Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Stiffelio in Giuseppe Verdi's Stiffelio and many others.
Giovanni Martinelli was an Italian operatic spinto tenor. He was associated with the Italian lyric-dramatic repertory, although he performed French operatic roles to great acclaim as well. Martinelli was one of the most famous tenors of the 20th century, enjoying a long career at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and appearing at other major international theatres.
Carlo Cossutta was a prominent Italian dramatic tenor of Slovene descent who had a major international opera career that spanned from the mid-1950s through the late 1990s. He began and ended his career at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires where he sang regularly from 1958 through 1998. He first drew international attention in 1964 when he sang the title role in the world premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Don Rodrigo, which led to a series of appearances at the Royal Opera, London during the 1960s. In the 1970s his international career skyrocketed with appearances at most of the major opera houses in Europe and the United States. He remained active on the international stage during the 1980s but his career slowed down significantly in the 1990s after he contracted liver cancer.
Richard Cassilly was an American operatic tenor who had a major international opera career between 1954–90. Cassilly "was a mainstay in the heldentenor repertory in opera houses around the world for 30 years", and particularly excelled in Wagnerian roles like Tristan, Siegmund and Tannhäuser, and in dramatic parts that required both stamina and vocal weight, such as Giuseppe Verdi's Otello and Camille Saint-Saëns's Samson.
Sylvie Valayre is a French operatic soprano known for her versatile interpretations of lyric, spinto, and dramatic coloratura soprano parts. She sings grueling roles like Abigaille, Lady Macbeth or Turandot as well as lighter pieces like Giordano's Maddalena, Cio-Cio San, or Verdi's Desdemona at major opera houses around the world.
Kamen Tchanev / Kamen Chanev was a Bulgarian operatic tenor who enjoyed an international career.
Barbara Frittoli is an Italian operatic soprano, specializing in operas by Verdi and Mozart. She has sung leading roles in opera houses throughout Europe and in the United States, such as La Scala in Milan and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Her signature roles include Mimì in La bohème, the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni, Desdemona in Otello.
Roy Cornelius Smith is an American operatic tenor, from Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
Rosario La Spina is an Australian operatic tenor who has had an active international career since the early 2000s. He has worked with many leading opera houses and orchestras, singing under such conductors as Renato Palumbo, Bruno Bartoletti, Gary Bertini, Daniele Callegari and Richard Hickox. Since 2005, he has been particularly active with Opera Australia.
Agim Hushi is an Albanian-born, Australian-naturalized spinto tenor currently living and working in Vienna, Austria.
Maurice Stern is an American operatic tenor and sculptor. He graduated from the Eastman School of Music. He made his debut at the New York City Opera as The Emperor Altuom in Giacomo Puccini's Turandot, and received a laudatory solo review by Eric Salzman of The New York Times for that small role.
Rodrigo Orrego is a Chilean opera tenor.
Sigutė Stonytė is a Lithuanian soprano and professor at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre.
Aleksandrs Antoņenko is a Latvian tenor who specializes in the dramatic repertoire, and has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera and La Scala.
Gaston Rivero is an Uruguayan-US American operatic tenor.
Dragana Radakovic is an operatic soprano, conductor and academic. With a flexible voice, she is able to sing bel canto as well as dramatic soprano roles. She has appeared at major opera houses in title and leading roles, including Bellini's Norma, Verdi's Aida, and Puccini's Turandot.
Ian Storey is an English tenor.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
