BILLINGS — A number of incredible musicians have graced the stage at Alberta Bair Theater over the years, but none will have had a cheering section as big as Tanner Jorden's this weekend.
"It’s a little bit stressful," Jorden admitted. "I feel like there’s all these expectations that I’ve gotten better."
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It's hard to get much better than the Billings Senior grad was before he left for college. Billings Symphony conductor Anne Harrigan knew he was special the first time she met him, when he was just 14.
"At that time, he loved to play fast. That was the most important thing to him," Harrigan said. "But after attending a masterclass with Brian Ganz, he became the most musical young musician I’ve ever heard in my life."
Jorden is now in his last semester at Brigham Young University, in the middle of applying to piano performance master's programs like Yale and Juilliard, because he didn’t do college like most.
"Everyone expects to see college as a party all the time, and I don’t think I ever went to a single party," he said laughing. "I just practiced until 11 p.m. every night. It's the nerdiest thing in the world, but it’s enjoyable."
He has been solely focused on piano for a decade. His credentials are already incredible: he’s played at Carnegie Hall, among others. But even that can’t compare to being the featured guest soloist this week with his hometown symphony.
"This is the most exciting one," Jorden said. "To know so many people in the audience have supported me for a decade. I have a relationship with many of them, so I'm excited to look out and see faces I recognize. It's a really exciting feeling."
It won’t be the first time Jorden has played with the Billings Symphony at ABT. He performed in February 2018 after winning the Montana Association of Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition.
He won again two years later and was set to solo in April 2020, but the concert was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We’ve been trying to get him back but he went off to college," Harrigan said. "He’s been very, very busy."
But he wouldn’t miss this opportunity for anything. Walking back into ABT this week hit him hard.
"Nerves," he said when asked what emotions come to mind. "Typically I do a pretty good job to not get nervous, but there's something about this one that just feels especially important."
"We can't be prouder of him," Harrigan said. "I want to hear, 'Encore! Encore!' when he finishes."
You will, because Billings will never get enough of him.
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