Dr. Christopher Di Santo, a native of Columbus, Ohio, joined the faculty of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey in January 2012 as Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Classical Music Studies in the college’s School of Arts and Humanities. His teaching duties at Stockton include courses in music appreciation, music theory, conducting, and chamber ensemble coaching. Prior to joining the faculty at Stockton College, he was a faculty member in the music departments of numerous area colleges including Moravian College, in the capacity of Artist-Lecturer, and as adjunct faculty in the music departments of Swarthmore College and West Chester, Lehigh and Rowan Universities. He has established himself as a music educator, clinician and adjudicator throughout the greater Philadelphia region, Lehigh Valley, southern New Jersey and abroad. In December 2006, he was honored with an invitation to Shanghai, China where he performed as soloist with the Shanghai Conservatory Symphony Orchestra and conducted a series of masterclasses with the Shanghai Conservatory of Music’s highly talented and advanced clarinet students. In 2005, Dr. Di Santo was chosen for inclusion in the ninth edition of Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 2005, a publication that honors a select 5% of our nation’s teachers, and he has published articles in The Clarinet, the official journal of the International Clarinet Association, and the International Alliance for Women in Music journal.
As a performer, Dr. Di Santo is currently the Principal Clarinetist of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony of southern New Jersey, a position he has held since 1991. He maintains an active performing career as a chamber and orchestral musician throughout the greater Philadelphia region having performed with the New Jersey, Delaware and Reading Symphony Orchestras as well as the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, where he was acting principal clarinetist during that organization’s 1995-96 season. Dr. Di Santo has participated in numerous summer music festivals in North America and Europe. He was an Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre in Canada and performed a summer season with the Banff Centre Opera Orchestra. In 1989, he was a member of the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and toured throughout Austria, northern Italy and Germany. He also enjoyed an unforgettable summer as a participant in the Grand Teton Seminar Orchestra in Wyoming. Dr. Di Santo is a founding member of the East Winds Quintet, the Artists-in-Residence woodwind quintet at Lehigh University. His recordings include Verdi’s Requiem in April 2007 and Mozart’s Requiem K. 626 in April 2006 with the Vox Ama Deus Ensemble, both on the Lyrichord label, and Lee Pui Ming’s She Comes to Shore: concerto for improvised piano and orchestra in 2010 with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony on the Naxos/Innova label. Additionally, his clarinet playing and commentary were highlighted in an eight-minute slot when the Bay-Atlantic Symphony was featured and broadcast nationwide on NPR’s Morning Edition (recorded and edited by NPR’s Jeff Lunden) on October 9, 2004. This broadcast reached over four million people across the country and was also broadcast in translation over Voice of America, throughout Europe and the former Soviet Republics.
In the press, he and his wife Karen were highlighted in a feature article entitled A Marriage of Music and Harmony when the Bay-Atlantic Symphony was the featured cover article of the March 2007 issue of Down Jersey Magazine. More recently, he appeared on the front page of the October 13, 2011 edition of The Press of Atlantic City’s At the Shore Magazine. Additional media credits include his appearance on a television commercial (with other Bay-Atlantic Symphony members) filmed on location in September 2011 at Shore Medical Center’s new surgical pavilion in Somers Point New Jersey. This commercial, produced in both 30 and 60 second formats, was broadcast on CBS and ABC affiliates throughout New Jersey, Delaware and Philadelphia.
Dr. Di Santo earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University, where he held a Conwell Fellowship and was elected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges in 1993. He holds a Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Music Education degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University. His clarinet teachers include Anthony Gigliotti, former principal clarinetist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Alan Hacker, Howard Klug, Dr. Donald E. McGinnis, and Dr. Robert A. Titus.
As a performer, Dr. Di Santo is currently the Principal Clarinetist of the Bay-Atlantic Symphony of southern New Jersey, a position he has held since 1991. He maintains an active performing career as a chamber and orchestral musician throughout the greater Philadelphia region having performed with the New Jersey, Delaware and Reading Symphony Orchestras as well as the Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, where he was acting principal clarinetist during that organization’s 1995-96 season. Dr. Di Santo has participated in numerous summer music festivals in North America and Europe. He was an Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre in Canada and performed a summer season with the Banff Centre Opera Orchestra. In 1989, he was a member of the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria, and toured throughout Austria, northern Italy and Germany. He also enjoyed an unforgettable summer as a participant in the Grand Teton Seminar Orchestra in Wyoming. Dr. Di Santo is a founding member of the East Winds Quintet, the Artists-in-Residence woodwind quintet at Lehigh University. His recordings include Verdi’s Requiem in April 2007 and Mozart’s Requiem K. 626 in April 2006 with the Vox Ama Deus Ensemble, both on the Lyrichord label, and Lee Pui Ming’s She Comes to Shore: concerto for improvised piano and orchestra in 2010 with the Bay-Atlantic Symphony on the Naxos/Innova label. Additionally, his clarinet playing and commentary were highlighted in an eight-minute slot when the Bay-Atlantic Symphony was featured and broadcast nationwide on NPR’s Morning Edition (recorded and edited by NPR’s Jeff Lunden) on October 9, 2004. This broadcast reached over four million people across the country and was also broadcast in translation over Voice of America, throughout Europe and the former Soviet Republics.
In the press, he and his wife Karen were highlighted in a feature article entitled A Marriage of Music and Harmony when the Bay-Atlantic Symphony was the featured cover article of the March 2007 issue of Down Jersey Magazine. More recently, he appeared on the front page of the October 13, 2011 edition of The Press of Atlantic City’s At the Shore Magazine. Additional media credits include his appearance on a television commercial (with other Bay-Atlantic Symphony members) filmed on location in September 2011 at Shore Medical Center’s new surgical pavilion in Somers Point New Jersey. This commercial, produced in both 30 and 60 second formats, was broadcast on CBS and ABC affiliates throughout New Jersey, Delaware and Philadelphia.
Dr. Di Santo earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Temple University, where he held a Conwell Fellowship and was elected to Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges in 1993. He holds a Master of Music degree in clarinet performance from the University of Illinois and a Bachelor of Music Education degree, cum laude, from The Ohio State University. His clarinet teachers include Anthony Gigliotti, former principal clarinetist of The Philadelphia Orchestra, Alan Hacker, Howard Klug, Dr. Donald E. McGinnis, and Dr. Robert A. Titus.
