Born in Orange, CA in 1993, Violist Tanner Menees is forging a robust career as a chamber musician. He has collaborated in chamber music performances with a range of notable artists including Miriam Fried, Susan Graham, Lynn Harrell, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Kim Kashkashian, Laurence Lesser, Mitsuko Uchida, and Donald Weilerstein.

Tanner is a member of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and also regularly plays with NOVUS of Trinity Church, the National Sawdust Ensemble, and A Far Cry. He is principal violist of the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra in Houston for the 2026-2027 season. As a soloist Tanner has performed with the Colburn Orchestra, Symphony New Hampshire, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. As a proponent of new American music, he regularly performs and records with Copland House.

Mr. Menees has performed internationally at festivals such as the Marlboro Music Festival, Caramoor’s Evnin Rising Stars and Chamber Feast, Chamberfest Cleveland, Edinburgh Music Festival, Festival Mozaic, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and with NEXUS Chamber Music Chicago among many others.
 

Growing up in Overland Park, Kansas, Tanner studied with Alice Joy Lewis, Tiberius Klausner, and Jackie Lee. He received his Bachelor of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Colburn School, where he studied with Paul Coletti. He later studied with Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory where he earned a Master of Music degree. Tanner plays on a viola of the Tarasconi school made in Milan, Italy c. 1880.