Organ, Historical Keyboards and Sacred Music
Ali Santos
CURRENT STUDENT PROFILE
Ali Santos is a Master of Music candidate in the studio of David Higgs. They are currently the production assistant for the Memorial Art Gallery’s Third Thursday concert series and continuo accompanist for Baroque chamber ensembles at Eastman. They have also performed as part of the annual Eastman Bunch concert on the Wurlitzer in the Auditorium Theater in Rochester. Ali is a 2023 recipient of Eastman’s Gerald Barnes Award for Excellence in Pipe Organ.
Prior to Eastman, Ali completed a dual degree at Virginia Commonwealth University in 2018, where they completed a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science and another in Psychology with a Minor in Music, Piano Performance. In 2015, they received a joint scholarship from the American Guild of Organists and the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart of Richmond, Virginia to study the pipe organ with Patricia Schrock, Director of Music at the Church of the Epiphany, and Daniel Sañez, Director of Music & Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart. As the organ scholar at the Cathedral, they organized and co-directed a student choir and developed an appreciation and skill set for sacred music under the direction and guidance of Mr. Sañez. Ali served as the organist and choir director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Hanover, VA from 2016-2019 and Penfield United Methodist Church in Penfield, NY from 2019-2021. They currently serve as Organist and Director of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Webster, NY. In March 2018, they were awarded an E. Power Biggs Fellowship to attend the 2018 Organ Historical Society Convention in Rochester, New York. The following year, they were admitted to the Eastman School of Music and completed their Bachelor of Music in 2022.