Rare is the raw talent with the fortitude to surmount every obstacle separating an impossible dream from success. Operatic tenor Carl Tanner is the exception.
Spurred by his love of music, a rich "spinto" tenor voice and encouragement from expert admirers along the way, he traveled a long, circuitous route from Arlington's Washington-Lee High School chorus to stardom on world stages.
His recent benefit concert for Aurora Opera Theatre of Arlington, Virginia was his way of thanking John Edward Niles, director of the company that for many years was known as Northern Virginia Opera Company. When Niles offered Tanner his first professional role as "Edgar" in Puccini's opera of the same name, the opera had never been staged. Puccini's granddaughter, his only living relative, accepted an invitation to attend. That put Northern Virginia Opera Company on the map and set the way for other companies to mount that opera.
Now 48, the Redskins fan and international star still calls Arlington home. After high school, Tanner studied voice at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, but feared he lacked the drive and confidence to forge a career traditionally filled with roadblocks. Instead, he became a long-haul trucker, a job that allowed him to sing at the top of his lungs while barreling down the road. Lured by the high pay awaiting bounty hunters, he next sought his fortune armed with guns in pursuit of deadbeats and criminals until a traumatic encounter took him to a critical crossroad. At the urging of his father to stop procrastinating and utilize the voice God gave him, he headed for New York with $77 in his pocket.
Fate stepped in at Asti's restaurant in the East Village where singers were encouraged to perform. No sooner did Tanner belt out an aria from "Tosca" than he was approached and invited to audition for Santa Fe Opera by Richard Gaddes, the company's general director. Shortly afterward, he met Hollywood actor Robert Duvall at Bianci's restaurant and received a second valuable endorsement.
Following summer apprenticeships with Santa Fe Opera in 1992 and 1993, Tanner set forth on the career he had dreamed about. By 2004, Virginia's native son had made his Washington National Opera debut as Samson in Saint-Saens' "Samson et Dalila" and was a regular on European, American and Japanese stages. None of the 40 roles in his repertoire are in more demand than his signature role, Dick Johnson in "La Fanciulla del West," which he performed for his Metropolitan Opera debut in January 2011 to a standing ovation at curtain call. Appropriately, the romantic bandit hero of the role that fits him like a glove embodies the daring Tanner exhibited as a bounty hunter.
At the debut, he was surprised by his lack of nervousness and by how perfectly organized everything was at the Met. After singing all over the world in large and small houses, he was amazed to hear his own voice reverberate around the hall and enjoyed how everything operated like clockwork.
Grateful for his enormous success he has enjoyed since Aurora Opera Company gave him that critical first opportunity, he did the benefit to let people know that small companies are vital because they introduce young talent who can forge great careers.
Emily Cary is a prize-winning teacher and novelist whose articles about entertainers appear regularly in the DC Examiner. She is a genealogist, an avid traveler, and a researcher who incorporates landscapes, cultures and the power of music in her books and articles.
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