Dr. Thomas Millioto is
a graduate of SUNY Stony Brook where he studied classical guitar
performance as well as performance on the lute and the 19th century
classical guitar. He is also a Performance Associate for CUNY
Hunter and
an instructor at the Brooklyn
Queens Conservatory of Music. The Conservatory
featured him on its 2002-2003 Faculty Showcase series where he
performed an all Giuliani recital on a period instrument, and he
will be featured again in the upcoming 2007-2008 series. Thomas
has participated in master classes given by Manuel
Barrueco and
the Evangelos and Liza Assimakopoulos duo,
and has had formative private lessons with David Starobin, Nikita
Koshkin and Pat OBrian. Thomas is also active as a recording
engineer and studio musician. He composed and produced original
music for the film Viva
Cepeda. The documentary about baseball legend Orlando Cepeda
aired on HBO Latino throughout April 2002 and March 2004, and has
played at Lincoln Center, The Museum of Natural History in New
York, and
numerous
international venues. His electric guitar playing can be heard
on Lisa Brigantinos release A Brooklyn Night (www.lisabrig.com).
Thomas also helped to edit the fourth, fifth and upcoming sixth
editions of "Listen," a
college level music appreciation text. Thomas performs regularly
as a classical and an electric guitarist, teaches privately,
and performs and records with Lisa
Brigantino.
Tom began playing the
guitar when he taught himself how to play it in the seventh grade.
He continued as a self
taught musician until, during the summer prior to his
entering college, he began studying the classical guitar privately
with Joanne Castellani, now of SUNY Buffalo.
At SUNY Fredonia,
Tom went on to double major in Classical Guitar Performance (with
Jim
Piorkowski) and Sound
Recording Technology (with Dave
Moulton), with a minor in Philosophy.
During this time, Tom also had the pleasure of studying with Oswald
Rantucci.
After
leaving Fredonia, Tom went to work as an intern and an employee in
the Recording Arts and
Services department of the Eastman
School of Music in Rochester New York.
During his stay of over a year in Rochester, Tom also worked as Studio
Manager and Engineer at Dynamic Recording, a local recording studio.
Upon relocating to
New York City, Tom worked as a Legal Assistant for a large Manhattan
based law firm, while
keeping musically active. He also taught private music lessons,
and began recording and performing regularly in the New York City
area with another SUNY Fredonia
graduate, Singer/Songwriter Lisa
Brigantino.
In late 1994, Tom began studying privately
with Professor Michael
Cedric Smith (of CUNY Brooklyn). In the
fall of 1995, he began his masters degree in classical guitar
at SUNY Stony Brook with Jerry
Willard. While he completed
his masters degree, Tom taught undergraduate classical guitar
as a Teaching Assistant at SUNY Stony Brook.