in 1990 and, in late 1991 while working as a singing waiter in the restaurant Bianchi and Margarita's, he was heard by Richard Gaddes, the head of the Santa Fe Opera, who arranged for him to join the Apprentice Program for Singers for 1992 (and then 1993) to obtain more training. His most recent work was the role of Otello in Palm Beach Opera's Otello.

One of Tanner's first breaks came from the Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia,