About Jonathan Santore

Photo by Maundy Mitchell Photography.

The works of Jonathan Santore have engaged and excited performers and audiences throughout the United States and abroad. His compositions have won awards including The American Prize in Composition, the American Composers Forum Welcome Christmas! Carol Contest, and an Individual Artist Grant from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. During his time as Composer in Residence for the New Hampshire Master Chorale (which won a “Best of NH” award from New Hampshire Magazine for his work), he specialized in creating deeply resonant compositions based on texts with strong local connections.

Santore’s music has been performed by ensembles including VocalEssence, Conspirare, the Boston Cecilia, the Choir of Rochester Cathedral, England, and the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, and at the national conferences of the College Music Society, the International Clarinet Association, the North American Saxophone Alliance, and the Society of Composers, Inc. His works have been published by TUX People's Music, Alliance Music, American Carillon Music Editions, Gold Branch Music, Manduca Music, Walton Music, and Yelton Rhodes Music, and featured on recordings by artists on Naxos, Albany and Centaur Records. A CD featuring his work for the New Hampshire Master Chorale, There Are Many Other Legends, was released by Navona Records. Santore’s digital compositions have been featured at festivals including the Prague Quadrennial and the Studio 300 Digital Art and Music Festival. 

In 2024, Santore was named the Stevens-Bristow Endowed Professor of Music at Plymouth State University, where he teaches composition and theory. He has also received PSU's Distinguished Teaching Award and Award for Distinguished Scholarship for his compositional work. Santore began his musical career as an All-State trumpet player in his native east Tennessee. He went on to study composition with Stephen Jaffe, Eugene Kurtz, Donald Grantham, Elaine Barkin, and William Kraft, and holds academic degrees from Duke University, The University of Texas at Austin, and UCLA. Before moving to New England, Santore taught at Occidental College, California State University, Los Angeles, and the University of Minnesota. He is also active as a conductor and music theorist. 

For further information, please contact Jonathan Santore.​