Dr. Tanner!

It's not every day that you watch your son participate in graduation exercises as a new PhD! But, yesterday, Saturday, May 1st, we did just that! We got up early to talk to Brian, who was braving the crush and pandemonium of graduates trying to get on shuttle buses to get to "The Big House" at the University of Michigan. Later, he called us from the field where he and thousands of his fellow graduates awaited the festivities. After all, it was quite a "coup" to have the President of the United States as the featured commencement speaker. Many have asked us why we were not there and my sister even called us after graduation to tell us to give Brian a hug for them (she assumed we were there). Brian did not know for sure if he would attend and he assured us that we had been there for him when it was most important- for his first Dissertation Recital. So, we watched graduation by streaming video on our computer.

Though President Obama was the featured "star" of the event. . .

and gave a thoughtful speech that encouraged a return to civility (Brian's words), our focus was on the star of our show- Dr. Tanner! Somewhere, Brian is in the crowd of graduates. . .

The cameras often focused on individual graduates, but, the cameras never did find him. I can imagine that even if we were in the stadium, we would have had a difficult time finding him in the sea of caps, gowns, and quite a number of doctoral hoods. Even with the miles between us, it was hard not to get emotional as we were there in spirit to witness the graduation of our son, Dr. Brian Tanner. Both David and I got a little "choked up" as we watched the broadcast and, especially, as the candidates were presented from the School of Music. In reality, Brian had "walked" on Friday at his convocation, and we are excited to see pictures from that event.

When Brian called to tell us that he had successfully defended his Dissertation, David wanted to write an article for our local newspaper, The Davis County Clipper, about Brian's accomplishment. So we worked together to write the article and send it in. When we got our Clipper this week, we totally missed the article, because we expected it to be published as we sent it. Thanks to a neighbor, we did find out that an announcement was in the paper, but it was edited, rewritten, and "buried" on the Youth/Education page, but it was there. We would like to share the original article with our family and friends, so I've included it with this blog post. Congratulations, Dr. Tanner!

Bountiful Tenor Achieves Doctorate

Brian David Tanner successfully defended his Doctrinal Dissertation and will receive his Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan School of Music, located in Ann Arbor. Brian will participate in graduation exercises to be held on May 1, 2010, which will feature President Barack Obama as the commencement speaker.

The University of Michigan’s Doctorate in Vocal Performance is a three-year program, during which time Brian served as a Graduate Student Instructor, teaching in the classroom, as well as instructing private vocal students for the University. In order to qualify for a Doctorate, a candidate must undergo a lengthy oral examination, present three Dissertation Recitals, and successfully defend his Dissertation, among other requirements. Brian’s first recital, “A Novel Approach,” featuring texts by famous authors, was sung in German, Italian, French, and English, set to music by a number of prominent Classical composers. For his second recital, Brian sang the tenor lead, Marco, in The University of Michigan Gilbert and Sullivan Society’s production of The Gondoliers. His final Dissertation Recital was sung in Portuguese and featured the music of several Brazilian composers. Brian developed a love of Brazilian music while serving as a missionary for the LDS Church in the Brasil Campinas Mission.

Dr. Tanner received his Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Vocal Performance from the University of Utah School of Music, where he studied with Dr. David Power. While at the University of Utah, Brian sang with the University of Utah Lyric Opera Ensemble and co-founded a student performing group called Zero Budget Productions, which provides additional opportunities for talented music students to perform and direct productions. Also during this time, Brian enjoyed three summers of singing with the Ohio Light Opera Company in Wooster, Ohio.

A graduate of Woods Cross High School, Dr. Tanner was the Sterling Scholar in Music from Woods Cross High School in 1999 and a 2-year member of the Woods Cross High Madrigals and Concert Choir, directed by Mr. Neil Hendriksen. While at Woods Cross High, he participated in many musical productions, with his most memorable performance as The Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz. He studied 3 years with Cheryl Stone before attending the University of Utah.

Dr. Tanner is the son of David and Jan Tanner of Bountiful, who commented on their son’s accomplishment, “We are so excited for Brian. He has followed his passion and worked nine years for this achievement. We have thoroughly enjoyed following his career and remember our favorite musical experience: seeing Brian perform the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s CosÍ Fan Tutte with The Hubbard Hall Opera Theater in Cambridge, New York.” They look forward to many more memorable performances from Dr. Tanner.