Michele Caniato received the Bachelor of Music degree in saxophone performance and jazz composition from Berklee College and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition from Boston University. He has studied jazz and classical saxophone with Bill Pierce, Joe Viola, and Harvey Pittel, composition with Richard Cornell, Lukas Foss, Marjorie Merryman, William Thomas McKinley and Charles Fussell, jazz composition and arranging with Bob Freedman, Herb Pomeroy, Greg Hopkins, Jim McNeely, and Michael Abene, improvisation with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Hal Crook, and conducting with Frank Battisti. He has also been an assistant to John La Porta and Bob Freedman at the Berklee Summer School in Perugia, Italy.

Dr. Caniato's jazz compositions and arrangements have been performed in the United States and Canada by Bill Pierce, Andy McGee, Alan Dawson, Jeff Stout, Anthony Wonsey, Igor Butman, Diego Urcola, Shannon LeClaire, the Kendrick Oliver Big Band, Berklee Faculty Big Band, Wellesley College Big Band, New England Conservatory Jazz Composers Big Band, Red Stick Saxophone Quartet, Ivano Zanenghi, and the BMI New York Jazz Orchestra.  He has written jazz arrangements for the 14th Coltrane Memorial Concert hosted by WGBH's Eric Jackson at Northeastern University (1999), Red Stick Saxophone Quartet has given multiple performances of his saxophone quartet in Louisiana and Canada (2000), harpist Franziska Huhn (appearances with the Boston Symphony) has performed his music at Harvard University (2000), and the BMI New York Jazz Orchestra performed his jazz compositions in New York at Merkin Hall and at Christ and St. Stephens Episcopal Church.  

Dr. Caniato has presented and published theoretical papers such as "A View from All Sides: Articulation of Form in the Music of Bill Holman" International Jazz Composers Symposium, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, March 9-11, 2006. "Outstanding Charts for Jazz Ensemble: Data from a Recent Survey" International Association of Jazz Educators, Long Beach, California, 2005, "Beyond Constant Pulse in Jazz: Expansion of Bass Function in Gil Evans" International Association of Jazz Educators, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2003, "From Popular Song To Jazz Composition: Thelonious Monk's Ruby, My Dear" College Music Society Northeast Chapter annual meeting. SUNY Potsdam NY, 1999; published in the Annual Review of Jazz Studies #10, Scarecrow Press, Rutgers University, 2000.

As Director of Jazz Ensembles at Boston University (1995-2001), Dr. Caniato taught Jazz History and developed the University's jazz ensemble program. At Boston University he conducted the big band in more than 200 arrangements and original works, many by contemporary writers, and produced the big band's CD Seven Steps to Heaven (broadcast on WBUR). He brought to the college for masterclasses and performances guest artists such as trombonist Hal Crook, saxophonists Bill Pierce and William Humphrey, trumpeters Dave Rezek, Satohiro Miyazawa, and the group Nuages. He conducted the Indian Hill Music Center Big Band in the inauguration concert for the center's new auditorium in Littleton MA (2001). He has been a composer in residence in the Weston, MA public schools (2005), and an artist-in-residence at the Adria Conservatory in Italy, where he gave lectures and conducted the big band (1998).

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Dr. Caniato has received numerous grants and awards such as the Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Grant in Music Composition (2007), the Amelia Gallucci-Cirio Endowment Grant for study abroad (renaissance music), Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Grant (for conducting), 2002, Massachusetts Cultural Council Professional Development Grant (for conducting), 1999, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, and Ruth Butler Grant, Faculty Scholarship/Creative Award, two Leadership Awards, and Student Government Association Faculty of the Year Award from Fitchburg  State College, MA. He was a finalist for the 2007 BMI Foundation/Charlie Parker Composition Prize.