Joseph Amante y Zapata
- Professor
- : (401) 825-2167
- : Warwick, Room 3182
- :
About
Dr. Joseph Amante y Zapata is interim chair of the Performing Arts Department at the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI). As director of choral activities, he both conducts the CCRI Chamber Singers and Chorus. He previously taught Latin and Caribbean music history and directed the Chorus at Roger Williams University.
Under his direction, choirs have participated in competitions and festivals at McGill University in Montreal, with Boston Pro Musica in Boston, and at Carnegie Hall in New York. His research and performance interests include music of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. He has transcribed several Salve Reginas and Magnificats, along with other Spanish works.
In 2024, Dr. Amante received a Faculty Innovation Fund Award from the CCRI Foundation and became a CCRI fellow. With grant support, he produced “Zarzuelas, Canciones y Mariachi,” an exploration of Hispanic and Latin American music. His other honors include a scholarship from the Herb Alpert Foundation, an Administrative Fellowship (AFP) at Harvard University, and a grant from the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.
Dr. Amante has studied with Joseph Flummerfelt, James H. Vail, Rodney Eichenberger, John Glenn Paton, Morten Lauridsen, John Moriarty, and Daniel Pinkham. As a college student, he sang in choirs conducted by Robert Shaw, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Kubelík, Alfred Schnittke, and Riccardo Muti. He also attended summer conducting at Tanglewood’s Seranak under Leonard Bernstein. His service to Rhode Island’s musical community includes board membership with the Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra, the Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra, and the Ocean State Pops Orchestra.
An active member of the choral community, Dr. Amante has served as an officer of the American Choral Directors Association in California and Massachusetts and as president of its Rhode Island chapter. He has worked as an accompanist, pianist, and vocal soloist at churches in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A violist and mandola player, he was assistant music director of the Ocean State Pops Orchestra, assistant conductor of L’Esperance Mandolin Ensemble, and a community member at large of the Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra.
A native of San Diego, Dr. Amante moved to New England to earn a master’s degree in choral conducting at New England Conservatory in Boston, where he met his wife, Terry. Their family moved to South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in 2001 when Terry became a professor in the Feinstein College of Education at the University of Rhode Island.
Some facts: First to offer History of Rock at a RI state college, first to offer Latin American & Caribbean Music at a RI state college, first Latino elected to department chair at CCRI, and he is a great grand-nephew of Emiliano Zapata.
Office Hours
*email to schedule an appointment
MUSC 2000 Latin American & Caribbean Music
MUSC 1210F Chorus
MUSC 1220F Chamber Singers
MUSC 1810 Ear Training & Sight Singing 2
MUSC 2810 Ear Training & Sight Singing 4
Education
- D.M.A. major in Choral Music (minor in Vocal Pedagogy) 2002
- University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
- Treatise: Sacred choral music in Colonial Mexico, 1650-1750: An Introduction
- Awarded: Herb Alpert Scholarship for Emerging Young Artists
- M.M. in Choral Conducting 1989
- New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, MA
- Coro Amante
- Ocean State Pops Orchestra
- Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra
Learning Resources
Academic Focus
One of my particular interests is the choral music of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. As part of my work in this area, I have transcribed three Salve Reginas, three Magnificats, and several shorter works. If you are interested in obtaining any of these editions for performance, please feel free to contact me directly by email.
Magnificat for 3 four-part choirs, Bernardo de Peralta Escudero (d. 1617)
Magnificat primi toni, Francisco Lopez Capillas (1614-1674)
Magnificat secundi toni, Hernando Franco (1532-1585)
Salve Regina a5, Pedro Bermudez (1558-1605)
Salve Regina a4 de Contra altos, Pedro Bermudez (1558-1605)
Salve Regina a4, Pedro Bermudez (1558-1605) in publication
Former choruses directed-
Presentations and Activities
Fall 2024, Mandolins and Messiah Pt. 1
https://youtu.be/CZO6UtLJFPY?si=1iwX3h7itoJ__YZ-
Spring 2023, G. Fauré "Cantique de jean racine"
https://youtu.be/H4wp6VX_xgg
CCRI YouTube channel
(pandemic Spring 2021)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqEviMhVwqU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ornsRjnlExo
Areas of Interest
CONCERT:
May 4, 2026, Hackett Theatre, Monday 7:00PM
CCRI Spring Choral Concert, "B" All The Way!
Brahms Requiem, Bernstein, Beatles
December 10, 2025, Hackett Theatre, Wednesday 7:00PM
CCRI Fall Choral Concert with OSPO (Ocean State Pops Orchestra)
A collaborative concert that includes Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on Christmas Carols"
https://oceanstatepops.org/
December 7, 2025, Hackett Theatre, Sunday 3:00PM
CCRI Fall Choral Concert with NaBSCO (Narragansett Bay Symphony Community Orchestra)
A collaborative concert that includes Rutter's "Gloria"
https://www.nabsco.org/events
Interested singers can contact me at (401) 932-0202 or email [email protected]