Dr. Nardolillo gives violin/viola lessons for the music department and coaches chamber music.
Jo Nardolillo is active in a wide range of musical endeavors, including performance, pedagogy, and musicology. As a champion of music by living American composers, she is passionate about commissioning, recording, and premiering new works. Equally comfortable on the violin and viola, Dr. Nardolillo performs in a broad range of genres and styles. She is a member of the innovative new-music ensemble TangleTown Trio and the hot-club jazz band Touché.
Dr. Nardolillo is driven by the belief that music belongs to everyone, and the cultivation of an artistic community that is equitable, inclusive, and values diversity is at the heart of all her work. She is the founding director of the Global Orchestra, an annual year-long project that uses virtual exchange to open a portal for students anywhere in the world to collaborate through accessible internet technology, unleashing the power of music to transcend all barriers.
Dr. Nardolillo earned degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Rice University, and the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Certificate in Pedagogy from the Institute for Music Leadership and was Mikhail Kopelman’s teaching assistant. She performed with the New World Symphony and served as Principal Second at the National Orchestral Institute.
Dr. Nardolillo has taught at the Eastman School of Music, Rice University, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Rochester, Asbury University, and the University of Puget Sound. She served as Assistant Professor of Music at Mercer University, where she was named 2007-2008 Outstanding Faculty of the Year.
Dr. Nardolillo is currently Chair of the Arts and Director of Orchestras at Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School (MICDS) in St. Louis.
Dr. Nardolillo has written four books:
"The Canon of Violin Literature" (2011, Scarecrow Press)
"All Things Strings: An Illustrated Dictionary" (2014, Rowman & Littlefield)
"Violin Secrets: 101 Strategies for the Advanced Violinist" (2015, Rowman & Littlefield)
"Cello Secrets: Over 100 Performance Strategies for the Advanced Cellist" with co-author Brian Hodges (2018, Rowman & Littlefield)
Dr. Nardolillo plays on a 1791 Johannes Cuypers violin, a 1991 John Newton viola, a 5-string Yamaha YEV, and a 2009 Brad Higgins fiddle.