He holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where he was the recipient of the University Fellowship. Santoro was born in Rome and received a Master's Degree in composition as well as diplomas in piano performance and chamber music from the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia in Rome. He worked for BMG Ricordi as an orchestrator and has taught piano, music theory and composition. He also has Master's Degrees from University of Bologna and from State University of New York at Binghamton. His music explores the integration of compositional methods with theories of natural systems. In addition, he is interested in expanding the interaction between listeners and composers by introducing new interactive technological media.