Tanner Porter
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 work within the imagery of the California coast she grew up on. Tanner’s orchestral music, described as “drop-dead gorgeous” (Jim Munson, Broadway World), has been commissioned by the San Francisco Ballet, Louisville Orchestra, Albany Symphony Orchestra, Reno Chamber Orchestra, Nu Deco Ensemble, and the New York Youth Symphony, among others.
Music as a vehicle for the mingling of artistic mediums is at the heart of Tanner’s work, stemming from a reverence for theatrical productions, and a deep love of song arrangement. She is thrilled to have collaborated with choreographer Claudia Schreier on two new ballets: Slipstream, for the Boston Ballet, and Kin, commissioned by the San Francisco Ballet and hailed as “a total-stage spectacle” (Rachel Howard, SF Chronicle).
As a songwriter, Tanner has been commissioned to write and perform song-cycles by institutions such as Dumbarton Oaks (A Sky To Love More, premiered by Eric Jacobsen and Friends) and the Louisville Orchestra (True Lover’s Knot, premiered by the LO under the baton of Teddy Abrams). Her short opera Boughs was commissioned and premiered by Barnard College and Columbia University’s New Opera Workshop. Her most recent record, One Was Gleaming, was released in 2024 with mixing by Christopher Botta and mastering by David Peters of Oak House Recording. Called “an outstanding, genre-defying album from a uniquely talented composer-songwriter…a rare, must-listen recording from an important artist with much to say” (Lauren Ishida, I Care if You Listen), One Was Gleaming features colorful arrangements and “songs imbued with nothing less than life itself” (Adobe and Teardrops). Her previous record, The Summer Sinks, was recorded with LA-based studio Oak House Recording and can be heard on all streaming platforms.
As a performer, Tanner had the privilege of being in the original Broadway cast of ILLINOISE, with music by Sufjan Stevens, direction and choreography by Justin Peck, a book by Jackie Sibblies Drury and Justin Peck, music direction by Nathan Koci, and new orchestrations by Timo Andres. She was the vocal/guitar understudy for two roles played by Tasha Viets-Vanlear and Shara Nova (My Brightest Diamond)/Becca Stevens.
As an arranger, Tanner orchestrated Grammy award-winning songwriter Aoife O’Donovan’s All My Friends for premiere with the Orlando Philharmonic, with a 2024 record featuring orchestrations for The Knights of New York, the Westerlies, and the San Francisco Girls Chorus.
Tanner was a composer-in-residence with the Louisville Orchestra's 2023-2024 Creators Corps, a 2022 Early Career Musician in Residence at Dumbarton Oaks, and has been a fellow of the Aspen Music Festival, Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the Next Festival of Emerging Artists. Her works have been presented at Carnegie Hall, the New World Symphony’s New World Center, the Prototype Festival, the Miami Light Box, the Mizzou International Composers Festival, New Music Detroit’s Strange Beautiful Music, New Music Gathering, and the American Composers Orchestras Connecting ACO Community virtual series. She was a 2019 recipient of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Charles Ives Scholarship. Tanner holds degrees in composition from the University of Michigan’s SMTD (BM) and the Yale School of Music (MM). She is a member of ANTiCX collective.
