Jonathan Santore

Education
AB, Duke University
MM, University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., University of California at Los Angeles

Fall 2022 Office Hours 
Monday/Wednesday, 1:30-2:30 p.m.; Thursday, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Jonathan Santore began his musical life as a trumpet player in his native east Tennessee, where he first became interested in creating music. He studied composition, music theory, and musicology in college and graduate school, and joined the Plymouth State faculty in 1994, where he’s been teaching composition and theory ever since. Much of the music he’s created during that time has been for the New Hampshire Master Chorale, which he served as Composer in Residence from 2004 to 2019, and which won a “Best of NH” award from New Hampshire Magazine for his works with local and regional connections.

He’s written for amateur and professional performers and ensembles at all levels, and his works have been published and performed nationally and internationally. He’s won prizes and awards for his compositions including recognition in the 2020 Calliope Music International Call for Scores for chorus and orchestra, The American Prize in Composition, the American Composers Forum Welcome Christmas! Carol Contest, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He’s also received both the Award for Distinguished Scholarship and the Distinguished Teaching Award from PSU.

His recent interest in composing for digital media has led him to make one work entirely from normal speech sounds, another work entirely from the sounds of falling spoons, and several humorous country songs, which are posted on YouTube under the name of his comedic alter ego. He’s also worn several administrative hats during his PSU career, and might well have one of them on when you see him on campus. This is, of course, a metaphor, but how he wishes it were real.