Sterling Tanner
Performer, educator and clinician Sterling Tanner is assistant professor of trombone at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music. Previously, he served as an adjunct professor of trombone at Texas A&M University Kingsville and as assistant professor of practice (trombone) at The Ohio State University.
An S.E. Shires Performing Artist, Tanner has appeared as a soloist throughout the United States and abroad including performances in Hong Kong and Valencia, Spain. Additionally, Tanner has served as the principal trombonist of Project Opera Columbus, as well as bass trombonist for the Newark-Granville and Central Ohio Symphony, and is a member of the Ohio Trombone Consortium—a group consisting of collegiate trombone professors across Ohio that were invited to perform at the 2020 International Trombone Festival in Osaka, Japan. Tanner performs each summer with the Professors Trombone Choir at the Southeast Trombone Symposium in Columbus, Georgia.
Tanner is also an accomplished soloist and was named the winner of the 2016 and 2018 American Trombone Workshop Division III Bass Trombone Solo Competition, the 2015 Southeastern Trombone Symposium S.E. Shires Solo Competition, and was a finalist in the 2016 International Trombone Festival’s Donald Yaxley Solo Competition. He has further shared the stage with trombone greats such as Jim Markey, Charlie Vernon, Denson Paul Pollard, George Curran, Joseph Alessi, Bill Thomas, Brian Hecht and Gerry Pagano. Additionally, from 2010-2014, he collaborated on a unique recording project at Columbus State University where various trombone artists recorded solo works with a trombone ensemble. The collaboration culminated in a disk released by Summit Records entitled “A Beautiful Noise.”
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Tanner earned a bachelor’s in music education from Columbus State University as well as MM and DMA degrees in trombone performance from the University of Texas at Austin. His teachers include Bradley Palmer and Nathaniel Brickens. Tanner holds memberships with the American Federation of Musicians, International Trombone Association, Colorado Music Educators Association, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and the National Association of Music Education.