As a San Francisco Bay Area native, Stephanie Sante grew up in a confluence of cultural, political and artistic influences. Her initial creative expression was through painting in the styles of “surrealism” and “science fiction”. Both styles exemplified an atmospheric quality that would later carry over into her music projects. With a promising path ahead of her in Fine Arts, Stephanie’s love for music surpassed her love for painting. As a music major in college she studied Piano Performance. After college she developed a love for guitar which lead to the Conservatory of Guitar and Voice, where she studied Classical and Flamenco Guitar for two years under the stewardship of Concert Classical Guitarist Lamar Eskelson. Soon her focus diversified to include World, Bossa and Ambient styles of music. As a solo artist committed to sound exploration Stephanie begain using Midi-Guitar as her primary compositional tool.
Stephanie Sante’s first solo release titled: “Into Light” garnered critical acclaim in 2000 from New Age Voice for “Winner Radio Airplay” and finalist “Best New Age CD”.
In early 2001 Stephanie released, “Immaculate Conceptions”, which exemplified her ability to layer exotic sonic textures. In late 2001 her 3rd release, “Inner Beauty”, was NAV’s finalist for “Best New Age/Electronic/Space CD”.
After the release of “Inner Beauty” Stephanie broadened her scope of composing to include a multitude of influences from NuJazz to Bossa to Chillout as well as adding additional acoustic and electric instruments.
Her 4th release, “Coffee Culture”, introduced a mix of chilled grooves stylistically covering Lounge, NuJazz, Bossa and World Beat. Coffee Culture was awarded “Best Concept Album” by Muse’s Muse in 2005.
In 2007 Stephanie released her 5th project, “Shine”, continuing to focus on a blending of NuJazz, Lounge and Ambient textures with Jazz and Bossa flavors.
“Prismatic”, Stephanie’s 6th project was released on July 1st, 2010. Inspired by the beauty and wonder of the great Pacific Northwest, “Prismatic” captures the spectrum of sensuality, romance and excitement that defines the lush Northwest, blending stylistic aspects of Electronic, NuJazz, Chillout, Ambient and Bossa into a prism of sound.
Stephanie continues to pursue her interest in Surrelistic/Science Fiction digital art and creates the designs and layouts for her cover art. Her work has been published by McGraw Hill and Wiley Books.
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