Adrianne JT Anning (aka Adrianne J. Tawa) moved to Flagstaff, February 2015 and began attending Beacon UU beginning in August that same year.  She accepted an invitation from Dora Harrison to sing with the choir and a year and a half later, assumed the Music Director position, as Interim in January 2017.  Adrianne is formerly an award winning choral director from Southern Utah with a distinguished 20 year career in vocal music.  She was elected Utah Music Education Association Choral Vice President for the state of Utah 2013-2015.  She received Iron County Teacher of the Year 2011, Utah All-State Women’s Honor Choir Director 2010 and was awarded the Utah Music Educator of the Year 2007.  Adrianne is committed to education, personal development, and making connections to self, others and the world around us through the choral experience.  Along with teaching three-hundred students in five high-school choirs at Canyon View HS, she was lead teacher for the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Foundation, Arts Fusion program through Southern Utah University, developing curriculum interpolating science, math and music.  She developed a summer International Arts Exchange program with colleagues from China that grew into a full time Chinese Dual Immersion program at Fiddler’s Elementary in Cedar City.   “She is a master teacher that values the individual while working toward a common goal.”  – Mrs. Wen Gao (Chengdu Foreign Language School, Sichuan Province)

 

Her high-school choirs received recognition throughout the Southwest region as a standard of excellence, continuously receiving superior marks at region and state festivals.  She has been active in both community and church music as the founding director of the Cedar Area Interfaith Alliance Choir, served as pianist/music minister for St. Jude’s Episcopal Church and directed the Southern Utah Chorale as Choral Master for the Orchestra of Southern Utah.  Adrianne has music-directed about thirty, fully staged, musical theatre productions and produced in excess of one-hundred choral concerts through her career.

 

Adrianne holds undergraduate degrees in Theatre Arts, Vocal Music Performance and K-12 Music Education, and an MEd from Southern Utah University.  She studied voice with Gregory Tata (Guild Hall, London), Lou Ann Crisler (Juilliard), Carol Modesitt (Eastern Kentucky University), choral methods and advanced conducting with Dr. Bart Shanklin (Florida State and Arizona State) and Dr. Gerard Yun (University of Colorado, Boulder).

 

Just reading this makes my head spin!  Which reminds me why I retired early due to sudden, unexplained, debilitating vertigo.  The lesson I am learning is, take life at a more manageable pace.  I am so lucky I found Beacon Unitarian Universalist Congregation.  Your “home” of deeper understanding and fellowship is inviting and peaceful.  Filled to the brim with beautiful singing.  The physical environment at Beacon, including natural lighting, a small-ish congregation and choir,  makes it possible for me to contribute as a musician without adding undue stress on my flimsy nerves.   I appreciate your trust in me and your willingness to share in the transformative, healing alchemy of music.