Guitarist Thomas Amoriello was born in Philadelphia and began his formal guitar studies in Minneapolis with David Crittenden in 1990. He earned his B.A. in Music from Rowan University and M.M. in Performance from Shenandoah University, majoring in
classical guitar. Tom was an Adjunct Professor of Guitar at Cumberland County College (Vineland, NJ) from 1999-2005. He has studied in the master classes of Benjamin Verdery in Maui, Hawaii and Angelo Gilardino and Luigi Biscaldi in Biella, Italy. As a NJ certified music educator, he has founded Instructional Guitar Class programs for the Diocese of Camden and the Flemington Raritan School District.
Tom is an advocate for class guitar programs in public schools and has been a clinician presenting his “Guitar for the K-12 Music Educator” for NJEA in Atlantic City, Virginia Music Educators Conference in Norfolk, VA, the NAfME Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore, MD and the Guitar Foundation of America in Columbus, GA & Charleston, SC.
He was recently featured on an episode of Classroom Closeup-NJ which aired on NJTV. He was also featured in an issue of Classical Guitar Magazine (UK) in the “Making a Living as a Classical Guitarist” and is a regular contributor of guitar advocacy articles to Tempo: The Official Magazine of the New Jersey Music Educators Association.
As a publisher and general editor of new works for guitar, many of his editions have received favorable reviews in Classical Guitar Magazine (United Kingdom), Soundboard (USA) and Rosewood Review. Many of these works have been dedicated to and premiered by Tom including Variazioni Sopra Crux Fidelis by D. Martin Jenni (1937-2006) which was recently featured in the GFA Contemporary Music Series in the Soundboard Journal.
He also enjoys playing electric guitar and has performed in the "Pit Band" for many rock musicals including Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair!, Godspell, Chess, and many more. Tom is a member of the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Society, Guitar Foundation of America and National Association of Music Education.