Our Team

Joe Santaniello Jr is a NATS-certified voice teacher specializing in both classical and musical theatre repertoire and technique and stage director of over 80 productions.

Owner and founder of Santaniello Vocal Studios in addition to Rising Stars Performing Arts, students reign from Fairfield County, CT and the Greater NY tri-state area. Santaniello's students have been accepted to some of the top music conservatories nationally for vocal performance and musical theatre such as Oberlin Conservatory, Boston Conservatory, Carnegie Mellon, Eastman School of Music, and NYU. Others have placed in multiple vocal competitions as finalists and have been cast in many regional and community theatre productions as leading players.

No stranger to the stage, Santaniello completed his training at the Boston Conservatory in Voice and Opera under baritone Victor Jannett. Santaniello has performed in many operas and shows professionally including Peter in Hansel and Gretel, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Elviro in Serse, Guiseppe in Gondoliers, Lorrenzo in Capuletti e i Montecchi, and Brutus/Lucius in Cleopatra, a Life Unparalleled Off-Broadway as part of the Midtown International Theatre Festival in NYC and the International tour of King Janos in Hungarian Nights in both 2017 and 2019 to name a few.

John Ray is a New York City-based professional performer, choreographer, and dance educator. A 2024 graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory’s BFA Musical Theatre program, John is actively working in the industry while bringing that current professional experience into the classroom.

Selected Performing Credits include Pretty Woman at Arizona Broadway Theatre; Fiddler on the Roof and A Christmas Carol at The Argyle Theatre; Hello, Dolly!, 42nd Street, and Cinderella at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre; and Elf at Surflight Theatre.

John is entering his third year teaching Tap, Jazz, and Theatre Dance at Front & Center for Performing Arts in Millburn, New Jersey, and his second year teaching and choreographing for the Junior Competition Team at Brooklyn Dance Centers. His competition choreography has received multiple Judges’ Diamond Buzzer Awards and placed in the Top 8 overall in its division.

Most recently, John choreographed Newsies JR. at SPARC Performing Arts Center, working with a cast of nearly 40 middle-school students to mount the production in two weeks.

As an educator, John gives young performers the opportunity to train with someone who has recently gone through the college audition and conservatory training process and is now actively working professionally. He brings that firsthand perspective into the studio, connecting strong dance technique with the expectations of today’s musical theatre industry.

American Tenor Patrick McGill is hailed as having a “clear, round intonation” and a “glorious sound” (Chronicle Journal). He received his Bachelors of Music in Vocal Performance from The Boston Conservatory (2014), and his Masters in Early Music Performance from McGill University (2017) where he studied with Ben Heppner and John MacMaster.

Since completing his studies at McGill, Patrick has been fortunate to sing at some of the most prestigious summer festivals in the United States and Canada, including time as a Fellow at The Tanglewood Music Center and at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Since his time in University, Patrick has continued to perform in many major concert halls across North America including The Montreal Symphony House, Salle Bourgie, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, The National Arts Centre, Palais Montcalm, and Carnegie Hall. Although his focus has been early music, Patrick’s performance career has encompassed opera, art song, oratorio and chamber music. Past performances include Lurcanio in Handel’s Ariodante, Candide in Bernstein’s Candide, Normanno in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, Tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Israel in Egypt, Torquemada in Maurice Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, and Gabriel von Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus.

Ada Cacciatore is an Italian dance educator and choreographer with over a decade of experience in the U.S. dance industry. She began her professional training at the National Academy of Dance in Rome, where she earned her B.A. in Dance. She later studied in London at The Place, and continued her education at The Ailey School in New York City through the Independent Study Program.

Ada is a versatile artist trained in ballet, modern, contemporary, and jazz. She has performed works by renowned choreographers including Donald Byrd, Darshan Singh Bhuller, Amaury Lebrun, Francesca Harper, Sidra Bell, Lakai Worrell, and Max Luna. Her international training includes intensives at Alonzo King LINES Ballet (San Francisco), Nederlands Dans Theater (Netherlands), and Random Dance Company (UK). She has also appeared in an American Ballet Theatre production as a supernumerary and is a proud ABT Certified Teacher.

In January 2023, Ada joined The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater as a ballet instructor in the Junior Division. 

She is a passionate educator dedicated to creating a safe, inclusive, and joyful learning environment where students feel empowered to express themselves. Ada believes in the power of creativity, discipline, and play as essential tools for growth in dance and in life.

Zeke Hudson began his theatrical journey as part of Brien McMahon High School’s Drama Department, where his love for performance and storytelling first took root. Since then, he has continued building a career centered on education and the arts, pursuing early childhood education and currently working in The Mead School’s daycare division in Stamford.

Alongside his work in education, Zeke has remained deeply connected to the theatre world, appearing in a wide range of productions including Hairspray, Mamma Mia!, Les Misérables, Carrie: The Musical, Jekyll & Hyde, and Sweeney Todd. A tenor vocalist with a passion for musical storytelling, he brings both technical skill and infectious enthusiasm into every rehearsal room.

Zeke is also a dedicated advocate for Black artists and educators in the performing arts, and is excited to continue fostering inclusive, supportive spaces for young performers as he grows with the Rising Stars community.

Zachary Anderson is a performer, musician, director, and teacher recently graduated from NYU Steinhardt, where he received a B.M. in Musical Theatre Vocal Performance, and where he currently works as a staff pianist. At school, Zach has been seen on stage in Applause (Bert), Wonderland (Dance Captain), Rags (Dance Captain), and NYU’s New Student Spotlight, directed by Natalie Weiss. In May 2022, he made his NYC cabaret debut at Green Room 42 in Endings & Beginnings. The same month, Zach launched the off-off-Broadway premiere of Damnation! The Musical, a semi-devised musical comedy in which he served as the director and co-head of music.

He studied voice at Santaniello Vocal Studios throughout his high school career, and was heavily active in the Norwalk High School music and drama departments, as well as the Chamber Music Institute in Darien, and the Downtown Cabaret Theatre in Bridgeport. Some of his favorite roles from the years he trained at Rising Stars include the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, and the Modern Major General in The Pirates of Penzance.

Zach studied Music Composition at Interlochen Center for the Arts following the premiere of his first original musical, Keychain, in January of 2016. In August of 2018, he directed and starred in his second original musical, Escape, and went on to publicly debut several pieces while at NYU. New original work is on the way, but more on that later.

Rebekka Rosen is a vocalist, vocal coach, choral educator, and scholar with a passion for using music as a vehicle for creating a more connected world. Devoted to the transformative power of music, Rosen is a vocal music educator for Greenwich Public Schools in Greenwich, Connecticut. Within her choirs, Rosen strives to cultivate a program culture that fosters respect, sets high expectations for growth, nurtures a love for the art form, and empowers student voice. In addition to her work in public education, Rebekka maintains an active vocal studio for singers of all ages and frequently serves as a music director for school and community theatre programs. A strong believer in the value of education, Rebekka earned a Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Susquehanna University and a Master of Arts in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Committed to creating meaningful musical experiences for all, Rebekka has served as CMEA Choir Coordinator and Choir Chair for both the middle school and high school music festivals and currently serves on CMEA’s Board of Directors as the Western Region Director. Rebekka shares her experience, pedagogical insights, and resources through published scholarship, presentations at state and regional conferences, and on Instagram, @TheChorusCorner.