Don Nardo: Difference between revisions
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In the early 1950s, the family settled in [[Natick]], [[Massachusetts]], where Nardo was at first home-schooled but later attended the local public schools. As he grew older, he developed an interest in many of the fields he would later pursue professionally, including acting, music, history, and writing. In high school, he performed in numerous plays and was voted best actor in his senior class.<ref name="Natick">{{Cite book|title=Sassamon|last=Natick High School|date=June 1965|location=Natick, MA|page=193}}</ref>. Outside of school, he learned to play the [[trumpet]] and began composing chamber and orchestral music, including a four-movement symphony at age fourteen.<ref name="NPbio">{{Cite web|title=Don Nardo: Composer, Historian, Author, Screenwriter|url=http://www.nardopublishing.com/bio.htm|date=November 25, 2008}}</ref> However, having little formal musical training, he was initially unable to notate these pieces properly, so in the next few years he taught himself to do so by studying books on orchestration. |
In the early 1950s, the family settled in [[Natick]], [[Massachusetts]], where Nardo was at first home-schooled but later attended the local public schools. As he grew older, he developed an interest in many of the fields he would later pursue professionally, including acting, music, history, and writing. In high school, he performed in numerous plays and was voted best actor in his senior class.<ref name="Natick">{{Cite book|title=Sassamon|last=Natick High School|date=June 1965|location=Natick, MA|page=193}}</ref>. Outside of school, he learned to play the [[trumpet]] and began composing chamber and orchestral music, including a four-movement symphony at age fourteen.<ref name="NPbio">{{Cite web|title=Don Nardo: Composer, Historian, Author, Screenwriter|url=http://www.nardopublishing.com/bio.htm|date=November 25, 2008}}</ref> However, having little formal musical training, he was initially unable to notate these pieces properly, so in the next few years he taught himself to do so by studying books on orchestration. |
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After graduating from high school in 1965, Nardo majored in theater at [[Syracuse University]], but left after a few [[semesters]] to pursue an acting career in New York City.<ref name="CapeCod1">{{Cite news|last=Miller|first=Barbara A.|title=This Renaissance Man Turned Desire into Reality|publisher=Cape Cod News|date=February 24, 1988| |
After graduating from high school in 1965, Nardo majored in theater at [[Syracuse University]], but left after a few [[semesters]] to pursue an acting career in New York City.<ref name="CapeCod1">{{Cite news|last=Miller|first=Barbara A.|title=This Renaissance Man Turned Desire into Reality|publisher=Cape Cod News|date=February 24, 1988|page=6}}</ref> Later, in the 1970s, he returned to school, obtaining a degree in history from Worcester State College (and graduating magna cum laude).<ref name="AnHis">{{Cite book|last=Kinzl|first=Konrad|title=Directory of Ancient Historians in the United States|publisher=Regina Books|location=Claremont, CA|year=1999|page=49}}</ref> |
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===Early professional work=== |
===Early professional work=== |
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As a young character actor, Nardo appeared in numerous stage productions, including work in summer stock in upstate New York and dinner theater in the American South.<ref name="CapeCod2">{{Cite news|last=Crosby|first=Johanna|title=Cape Duo’s ‘Spenser’ Script to Air Sunday|publisher=Cape Cod Times|date=December 31, 1987| |
As a young character actor, Nardo appeared in numerous stage productions, including work in summer stock in upstate New York and dinner theater in the American South.<ref name="CapeCod2">{{Cite news|last=Crosby|first=Johanna|title=Cape Duo’s ‘Spenser’ Script to Air Sunday|publisher=Cape Cod Times|date=December 31, 1987|page=15}}</ref>. He also worked with the National Shakespeare Company under producer-director Philip Meister,<ref name="NYT1">{{Cite news|title=Obituary for Philip Meister|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/05/arts/philip-meister-helped-start-cubiculo-theater.html|publisher=New York Times|date=April 5, 1982}}</ref> including productions of Macbeth, Othello, and As You Like It. Later, Nardo's theatrical interests shifted more to writing screenplays and teleplays. While working on his first few scripts, he taught high school social studies and English in Barnstable, Massachusetts.<ref name="barnstable">{{Cite web|title=The Barnstable High School Drama Club History|url=http://bhsdc.org/site/?page_id=156}}</ref> One of these screenplays, The Bet, won a $5,000 award from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation in 1982. Among the teleplays was an episode of ABC’s [[Spenser: For Hire]], starring [[Robert Urich]]. Titled “Skeletons in the Closet,” it guest starred [[E.G. Marshall]] and [[Boyd Gaines]]. Nardo also co-wrote, produced and directed a low-budget feature film, In Deadly Heat, which was distributed as Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator by Troma Entertainment and released to the video market in 1990 by Media Home Entertainment. |
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===Writing career=== |
===Writing career=== |
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===Music=== |
===Music=== |
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Meanwhile, Nardo continued to compose music, including a second symphony; concertos for violin, cello, piano, clarinet, French horn, and trumpet; four string quartets<ref name="CapeCod1" />; a musical tribute to Thomas Jefferson; incidental music for stage plays, including a large-scale school production of The Hobbit, for which he also conducted the pit orchestra<ref name="barnstable" />; several romances arranged for strings or orchestra; an oratorio based on the King Arthur legends,<ref name="John White">{{Cite news|last=White|first=John|title=Nardo Composes ‘Arthur', Oratorio|publisher=Insight|date=March 17, 1981| |
Meanwhile, Nardo continued to compose music, including a second symphony; concertos for violin, cello, piano, clarinet, French horn, and trumpet; four string quartets<ref name="CapeCod1" />; a musical tribute to Thomas Jefferson; incidental music for stage plays, including a large-scale school production of The Hobbit, for which he also conducted the pit orchestra<ref name="barnstable" />; several romances arranged for strings or orchestra; an oratorio based on the King Arthur legends,<ref name="John White">{{Cite news|last=White|first=John|title=Nardo Composes ‘Arthur', Oratorio|publisher=Insight|date=March 17, 1981|page=7}}</ref> and other works. In 1987 the Cape Symphony Orchestra commissioned him to compose a concert piece for children based on H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds.<ref name="CapeCod1" /> A more recent commission came from renowned Portuguese guitarist Paulo Soares and versatile Portuguese violinist [[Peter M. Ferreira]]—a double concerto for violin and Portuguese guitar, the first major concert piece ever written for the latter instrument. Nardo is presently the resident composer and arranger for Ferreira’s Connecticut-based Amadis Orchestra.<ref name="Ferreira">{{Cite web|last=Ferreira|first=Peter|title=Peter M. Ferreira: Repertoire|url=http://www.peterferreira.com/repertoire.html}}</ref> |
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==Personal life== |
==Personal life== |
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Revision as of 09:32, 4 October 2010
Don Nardo (born February 22, 1947) is an American historian, composer, and writer. With more than three hundred published books, he is one of the most prolific authors in the United States,[1] and one of the country’s foremost writers of historical works for children and teens.[2]
History
Childhood and education
Don Nardo was born in Columbia, Missouri.
With his younger brother, Philip (born 1949), Nardo spent the first few years of his life on the road as his parents, who were popular nightclub entertainers, traveled throughout the country.
In the early 1950s, the family settled in Natick, Massachusetts, where Nardo was at first home-schooled but later attended the local public schools. As he grew older, he developed an interest in many of the fields he would later pursue professionally, including acting, music, history, and writing. In high school, he performed in numerous plays and was voted best actor in his senior class.[3]. Outside of school, he learned to play the trumpet and began composing chamber and orchestral music, including a four-movement symphony at age fourteen.[4] However, having little formal musical training, he was initially unable to notate these pieces properly, so in the next few years he taught himself to do so by studying books on orchestration.
After graduating from high school in 1965, Nardo majored in theater at Syracuse University, but left after a few semesters to pursue an acting career in New York City.[5] Later, in the 1970s, he returned to school, obtaining a degree in history from Worcester State College (and graduating magna cum laude).[6]
Early professional work
As a young character actor, Nardo appeared in numerous stage productions, including work in summer stock in upstate New York and dinner theater in the American South.[7]. He also worked with the National Shakespeare Company under producer-director Philip Meister,[8] including productions of Macbeth, Othello, and As You Like It. Later, Nardo's theatrical interests shifted more to writing screenplays and teleplays. While working on his first few scripts, he taught high school social studies and English in Barnstable, Massachusetts.[9] One of these screenplays, The Bet, won a $5,000 award from the Massachusetts Artists Foundation in 1982. Among the teleplays was an episode of ABC’s Spenser: For Hire, starring Robert Urich. Titled “Skeletons in the Closet,” it guest starred E.G. Marshall and Boyd Gaines. Nardo also co-wrote, produced and directed a low-budget feature film, In Deadly Heat, which was distributed as Stuff Stephanie in the Incinerator by Troma Entertainment and released to the video market in 1990 by Media Home Entertainment.
Writing career
Although Nardo had avidly studied history informally since childhood and had acquired a degree in history in the 1970s, he did not begin writing history books until the 1980s. A chance assignment by a Boston-based publisher to write several chapters of a new high-school-level history textbook led to offers from several young adult publishers. In the years that followed, the offers kept coming, as did positive reviews from School Library Journal[10], Booklist, and other noted journals. He joined the Association of Ancient Historians in the 1990s.[6] And by 2004, he had penned more than a hundred books about the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and other ancient peoples. In that same year, noted classical historian Victor Davis Hanson stated online: “There is an entire series of great children’s books [about ancient history] by Don Nardo, who has emerged as the premier practitioner of that important craft.”[2] At the request of Chelsea House, Scholastic, Lucent Books, Compass Point Books, Morgan Reynolds, and other publishers, Nardo also wrote numerous books about medieval civilization, among them a biography of the eccentric Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe that won a special commendation by the National Science Teacher’s Association.[11] In addition, he fulfilled numerous requests to write books about modern history, including several studies of Native American culture, America’s wars, and the U.S. founders and their writings.
Music
Meanwhile, Nardo continued to compose music, including a second symphony; concertos for violin, cello, piano, clarinet, French horn, and trumpet; four string quartets[5]; a musical tribute to Thomas Jefferson; incidental music for stage plays, including a large-scale school production of The Hobbit, for which he also conducted the pit orchestra[9]; several romances arranged for strings or orchestra; an oratorio based on the King Arthur legends,[12] and other works. In 1987 the Cape Symphony Orchestra commissioned him to compose a concert piece for children based on H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds.[5] A more recent commission came from renowned Portuguese guitarist Paulo Soares and versatile Portuguese violinist Peter M. Ferreira—a double concerto for violin and Portuguese guitar, the first major concert piece ever written for the latter instrument. Nardo is presently the resident composer and arranger for Ferreira’s Connecticut-based Amadis Orchestra.[13]
Personal life
Nardo has been married twice. The first union produced a son, Dana (born 1972), who became a graphic artist and animator. Nardo and his second wife, Christine, are avid animal lovers who have a particular fondness for dogs and presently share their home in Massachusetts with a golden retriever named Lily.[4] They also enjoy traveling and have made frequent trips to Greece and other countries that Nardo frequently writes about.
Selected works
- Krakatoa. Lucent Books, 1990. ISBN 1560060115
- Anxiety and Phobias. Chelsea House, 1992. ISBN 0791000419
- Braving the New World: 1619-1784, From the Arrival of the Enslaved Africans to the End of the American Revolution. Chelsea House, 1995. ISBN 0791022595
- The Age of Augustus. Lucent Books, 1996. ISBN 1560063068
- Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. President. Chelsea House, 1996. ISBN 0791024075
- Life on a Medieval Pilgrimage. Lucent Books, 1996. ISBN 1560063254
- The Mexican-American War. Lucent Books, 1999. ISBN 1560064951
- Readings on Othello. Editor, Greenhaven Press, 2000. ISBN 0737701870
- The Ancient Romans. Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1560067063
- The Complete History of Ancient Greece. Greenhaven Press, 2001. ISBN 073770425X
- Greenhaven Encyclopedia of Ancient Rome. Greenhaven Press, 2001. ISBN 0737705515
- Egyptian Mythology. Enslow Books, 2001. ISBN 076601407X
- Understanding Hamlet. Lucent Books, 2001. ISBN 1560068302
- Daily Life in Ancient Rome. KidHaven Press, 2002. ISBN 0737706120
- Greek Temples. Franklin Watts, 2002. ISBN 0531162257
- The Indian Wars: From Frontier to Reservation. Lucent Books, 2002. ISBN 1560068914
- Roman Amphitheaters. Franklin Watts, 2002. ISBN 0531162249
- Ancient Persia. Blackbirch Press, 2003. ISBN 1567117406
- The Italian Renaissance. KidHaven Press, 2003. ISBN 0737710365
- Women of Ancient Rome. Lucent Books, 2003. ISBN 1590181697
- Andrew Johnson. Children’s Press, 2004. ISBN 0516242423
- Black Holes. Lucent Books, 2004. ISBN 1590181018
- The Byzantine Empire. Blackbirch Press, 2005. ISBN 1410305864
- Artistry in Stone: Great Structures of Ancient Egypt. Lucent Books, 2005. ISBN 1590186613
- The Creation of the U.S. Constitution. Greenhaven Press, 2005. ISBN 073772580X
- King Tut’s Tomb. KidHaven Press, 2005. ISBN 0737723521
- Pericles: Great Leader of Athens. Enslow Books, 2006. ISBN 0766025616
- The Search for Extraterrestrial Life. Lucent books, 2006. ISBN 1590188322
- France. Children’s Press, 2008. ISBN 0516259482
- The Civil War. Lucent Books, 2008. ISBN 1420500651
- Tycho Brahe: Pioneer of Astronomy. Compass Point Books, 2008. ISBN 0756533090
- Peoples and Empires of Ancient Mesopotamia. Lucent Books, 2009. ISBN 1420501011
- The Industrial Revolution in Britain. Lucent Books, 2009. ISBN 1420501526
- The Industrial Revolution in the United States. Lucent Books, 2009. ISBN 1420501534
- Maya Angelou: Poet, Performer, Activist. Compass Point Books, 2009. ISBN 075651889X
References
- ^ "Library of Congress Online Catalog: Dan Nardo". United States Library of Congress.
- ^ a b Victor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers, August 2004. Retrieved 2009-06-06
- ^ Natick High School (June 1965). Sassamon. Natick, MA. p. 193.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b "Don Nardo: Composer, Historian, Author, Screenwriter". November 25, 2008.
- ^ a b c Miller, Barbara A. (February 24, 1988). "This Renaissance Man Turned Desire into Reality". Cape Cod News. p. 6.
- ^ a b Kinzl, Konrad (1999). Directory of Ancient Historians in the United States. Claremont, CA: Regina Books. p. 49.
- ^ Crosby, Johanna (December 31, 1987). "Cape Duo's 'Spenser' Script to Air Sunday". Cape Cod Times. p. 15.
- ^ "Obituary for Philip Meister". New York Times. April 5, 1982.
- ^ a b "The Barnstable High School Drama Club History".
- ^ Grabarek, Daryl; Thornton-Verma, Henrietta (June 1, 2007). "Reference Review". School Library Journal.
- ^ Texley, Julianna. "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12: 2008". National Science Teachers Association.
- ^ White, John (March 17, 1981). "Nardo Composes 'Arthur', Oratorio". Insight. p. 7.
- ^ Ferreira, Peter. "Peter M. Ferreira: Repertoire".