Filippo Santoro

Filippo Santoro Bio Filippo Santoro is an Italian composer who studied with composers Luciano Pelosi, Boris Porena and Stephen Dembski and draws inspiration from the teaching of Franco Donatoni. His music has been described as “otherworldly, intellectual, gentle, yet never genteel” (The American Prize) and takes inspiration from nature and the way biological forms grow and develop. Filippo’s works have been performed internationally and across the United States. Honors include the third prize in chamber music-professional division- at the American Prize 2015, UW-Madison Concerto Competition with the work Arioso Mistico for soprano and orchestra, and residencies at Kimmel Nelson Center for the Arts, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Ucross Foundation for the Arts. He was a composer fellow for the Composers Conference, Valencia International Performance Academy, ISCM New Music Miami. Filippo has recently created works exploring form and modularity through collaborations with ensembles such as Talea, Nomos Group, Nodus Ensemble, Transient Canvas, UW-Contemporary Ensemble, Clocks in Motion, I flauti di Toscanini, Second Movement Ensemble, and solo virtuosos such as Marc Vallon, Dough Lindsey, Kostas Tiliakos, Mili Chang, and Adrian Morejon. His long-term projects include among others “Duplum,” a cycle of works for two same instruments in the tradition of Berio’s sequenzas and “Remote,” a series of solo and chamber works that explores performer and audience interaction through the aid of new technologies. Filippo has also presented numerous university lectures on the concepts of Figura in the music of Franco Donatoni, and the idea of modularity in music. Santoro was born in Rome and received a Master’s Degree in composition as well as diplomas in piano performance and chamber music from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He graduated from University of Bologna with a Master’s Degree in music and semiotics and from State University of New York, Binghamton with a Master’s Degree in composition. He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition at the University of Wisconsin where he was the recipient of the UW-Madison University Fellowship. He is currently faculty at The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY and teaching artist for ACE, Education Center for the Arts, New Haven, CT.