Michael Pantaleo
Scholarship
Music for Humanity 2025 Grand Scholarship ($10,000) in honor of Michael Pantaleo
Our brother Michael was born on May 12, 1951. and died January 25, 1981, when he was tragically murdered.
He was always drawing and painting when we were young. He started playing clarinet, which we still have, then saxophone, and then piano and organ. He was an elementary school music teacher in West New York and the organist for St. Michael’s Monastery in Union City, which is now a Korean church.
He enjoyed life and loved to travel. Michael and his sister Eileen spent 3 weeks traveling in Europe in 1971. Michael also spent a week in Italy in 1974 with his brother Steven. Michael and/or our cousin Janet would play piano for hours at every family party. A good friend of his told us that once, back in the 70s, they were staying at a beach front hotel in Miami and many late afternoons Michael would play piano in the bar area to the delight of many.
Thank you for helping to keep his spirit alive by naming the 2025 Music for Humanity Grand Scholarship in his honor. He was a great person, brother, son, uncle, cousin and friend. We were all fortunate to know him, but unfortunately for too short a time.
Steven Pantaleo, Eileen and John Lanza
Your Three Judges
Charles Mokotoff, Chairperson
CHARLES MOKOTOFF holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in guitar performance from Syracuse University and Ithaca College, respectively. He has served on the faculties of numerous colleges and universities in New York and the New England area as a lecturer in classical guitar and lute.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Mokotoff made his home in New England where he was widely recognized as an active guitarist and lutenist. During that period his career culminated with two Far East tours and a well-received New York City debut at Carnegie Hall in 1987.
Solo and ensemble recitals over the past few seasons have included performances in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Ann Arbor, MI, St. Petersburg FL and Asheville NC.
Classical Guitar Magazine (U.K.) has called his playing, “truly monumental” as well as “engaging and rhapsodic.”
ClassicalGuitarMusic.org has written that his playing shows “a mix of strong tone, pianistic at times, but also capable of beautiful legato phrasing and a natural feel for forward movement.”
Mr. Mokotoff was described by the New York Times as “exceptional among debutantes…a thoughtful, gentlemanly artist, technically fastidious and able to coax a range of sounds from his instrument.”
Currently Mr. Mokotoff has homes in both Tampa, FL and New York City.
E’lissa Jones
E’lissa Jones is singer, prolific songwriter, violinist, pianist, and guitarist from colorful Colorado with a catalogue of over 300 original songs. She is a Grammy Ballot Nominee and was voted Best Musician in the Hudson Valley by Hudson Valley Magazine and Songwriter of the Year multiple times by The Times Herald Record.
E’lissa has toured the world as a backup singer with Wilson Pickett touring with Al Green, Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, BB King, Martha and the Vandellas, and violin for Bobby Vee. She opened up for Pete Seeger and Steve Forbert and contiues to tour the Hudson Valley as well as the exceptional artist that she is. She has recorded and released seven albums and multiple singles. E’lissa’s music has been used in the soundtrack of the films Strings Attached and When the Dust Settles.
E’lissa has been a music educator for 24 years with her private violin/viola studio, is the Director of Orchestras, MusicTheory, & Music Production at Warwick Valley High School, and is the Founder and Director of the Hudson Valley Ebony Strings.
Chris Reali
Chris Reali is an Associate Professor of Music Industry at Ramapo College of New Jersey. He studies popular music by examining the relationships between local music scenes and the national music industry.
His 2022 monograph, Music and Mystique in Muscle Shoals, utilizes integrative frameworks that draw upon musicology, ethnomusicology, and complementary disciplines such as sociology, and American and African-American studies.
Reali’s work on Muscle Shoals fills gaps within the larger narrative of popular music studies by assessing salient musical characteristics and interpreting the long-lasting cultural effects of this Alabama community.
He has presented at numerous conferences including the Music Entertainment Industry Educators Association (MEIEA) Summit, American Musicological Society, the Society for American Music, and the Society for Ethnomusicology.
His published work appears in the MEIEA Journal, Rock Music Studies, Southern Cultures, the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, and The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture.
Reali toured the United States, Canada, and Western Europe as a guitar technician and tour manager for Chris Whitley, and as a guitar, bass, and drum tech for David Gray. He is also a singer-songwriter who frequently performs in the lower Hudson valley.
Scholarship Application
Applications are only accepted from February 15th thru April 30th for the following academic year. Final decisions are announced each year mid-July.
On Saturday July 19, 2025 we will award another $20,000 in music scholarships bringing our grand total to $207,000 and 78 music scholarships.
We’ll announce the scholarships on Saturday night July 19th at our 177th Free Performance Night at Noble Coffee Roasters in Campbell Hall NY and via email. Sign up for our email list here:
http://eepurl.com/N5BJD
In 2025, the grand prize winner will be awarded $10,000. Runner-up is $5,000. Four Honorable Mentions of $1,250 each for a total of $20,000.
Starting in 2025 all colleges & universities are limited to a maximum of two scholarships per year.
Bonus: All applicants have the option to receive a free 30 minute consultation from a leading authority in the world of arts public relations, with over 40 years of experience representing some of the most celebrated talents in classical music and opera. Once you complete and remit payment you’ll receive an email about this opportunity. There is no further obligation for either you or the publicist to continue the relationship.