Philip Santos Faculty Profile

Philip Santos began teaching violin and viola at CSUEB in 1999. He has directed the String Ensemble and has coordinated programs and musicians, as well as performing for the annual Glenn Glasow Memorial Concert. Concertmaster of the Fremont Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Santos is also Assistant Concertmaster of Marin Symphony and Principal Second Violin of California Symphony. He has been a member of the Berkeley Symphony, Oakland Symphony, Monterey Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and has played with San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras, as well as the Chicago Symphony.

Mr. Santos has performed as soloist with many orchestras, including the Berkeley Symphony with conductor Kent Nagano. He played Concertmaster for Frank Sinatra and Chuck Mangione and has appeared with other legendary artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Itzhak Perlman, YoYo Ma, Andre Watts and Luciano Pavarotti, among many others. Mr. Santos has performed on numerous Grammy Award winning recordings including the filmed concert collaboration with Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony and was Concertmaster for a concert of music by the Grateful Dead with Bob Weir and the Marin Symphony. As a member of the Skywalker Symphony, he has recorded soundtracks for well-known films and video games.

Mr. Santos has performed on many chamber music series in the Bay Area including San Francisco Symphony’s Chamber Music Series, Chamber Music Sundaes, Composers Inc., and Old First Church Concerts. He also performed on the Carnegie Recital Hall series.

Mr. Santos was introduced to the violin in the Oakland public schools and later returned to do in-school programs with renowned cartoonist, Morrie Turner. He teaches violin and viola at Patten Academy and has coached several Bay Area youth orchestras including East Bay Youth Orchestra, Peninsula Symphony Youth Orchestra, Odd Fellows Youth Chamber Music Project, and the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. Mr. Santos teaches privately at ABC Music in Castro Valley CA.