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Dennis DeSantis is a composer, percussionist, sound designer, author, and educator working across concert halls, clubs, studios, and classrooms. His work explores the boundaries between musical worlds, blending classical training with deep involvement in electronic music technologies and cultures.
DeSantis is Associate Professor of Music and Technology at the Eastman School of Music. He was formerly Head of Music Learning at Ableton, where he led development of the interactive platforms Learning Music and Learning Synths, contributed to the design of Live and Push, and served as a curator and moderator for the Loop conference. He is the author of Making Music: 74 Creative Strategies for Electronic Music Producers, widely used in music production courses worldwide.
His electronic music has appeared on labels such as Ghostly, Cocoon, and Global Underground, with performances across North America, Europe, and Japan. As a concert composer, he has been commissioned by Alarm Will Sound, eighth blackbird, Sō Percussion, and the Prism Saxophone Quartet, with performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Notable projects include an arrangement of Autechre’s music for chamber orchestra and an opera with electronics for the Staatsoper Stuttgart. He received a GRAMMY certificate in 2008 for his work on eighth blackbird’s strange imaginary animals.
DeSantis holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from the Eastman School of Music as well as degrees from Yale and Western Michigan University.