Tanner Menees is a sought-after violist in chamber music recognized for both his technical mastery and his rich, inventive style. 

After graduating from the Colburn School, where he studied with Paul Coletti, Tanner went on to earn a Master of Music degree at the New England Conservatory under the tutelage of Grammy winner Kim Kashkashian. He has since collaborated with a growing pantheon of chamber musicians and a long list of celebrated festivals at home and abroad.

Tanner has appeared as a soloist with the Colburn Orchestra under maestro Thierry Fischer and with Symphony New Hampshire. As an assiduous advocate of new American music, Tanner regularly performs and records with Copland House, where he has participated in the introduction of electrifying new works including A Standing Witness, by composer Richard Danielpour and U.S. Poet Laureate Rita Dove. 

You can further find Tanner playing the part of “snoozing musician/somnambulant violist” in “Dreaming of Boccherini,” a whimsical video by Mike Grittani shot in Guarneri Hall as part of the NEXUS Chamber Music Festival in 2019.

Tanner grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, in a family of talented musicians who listened to the great classical masterpieces on long car rides, with only the occasional intervention by Earth, Wind & Fire. When not performing, practicing or scurrying to airports, he is similarly an advocate for new American board games such as 2019’s Wingspan.  He currently resides in New York City.

Tanner plays on a viola of the Tarasconi school made in Milan, Italy c. 1880 courtesy of Guarneri Hall NFP and Darnton & Hersh Fine Violins.

Notable collaborators include: Miriam Fried, Susan Graham, Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Laurence Lesser, Danny Phillips, Marcy Rosen, Mitsuko Uchida, and Donald Weilerstein. 

Notable festivals appearances include: The Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute, Caramoor Evnin Rising Stars, Chamberfest Cleveland, Menuhin Festival String Academy, Edinburgh Music Festival, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and with NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago.