Rich DiSilvio is a native New Yorker whose diversity, as noted in Primo magazine and by fans, has earned him the moniker Renaissance Man. At an early age, Rich gravitated to art, history, music, architecture and science.
Upon graduating college, Rich attended Harold Stevenson's Academy of Traditional Painting. Stevenson was one of only five protégés ever mentored by Norman Rockwell, and it was upon this historic foundation that Rich mastered one of his many crafts. A few of his oil paintings are featured above, with the Tchaikovsky work being done for Lincoln Center, which found its way onto collector plates and mugs, along with several other great composers.
However, with his industrial arts background and construction experience, Rich founded Creative Design Contractors, where his architectural ingenuity and design skills were showcased on numerous interior and exterior renovations. One example is the complete redesign and makeover project on the left. Originally a plain white, brick-faced house with aluminum siding, DiSilvio created a stunning cedar showpiece.
After a long successful run in construction, DiSilvio returned to the arts by founding Digital Vista, an advertising and design studio. With a primary focus on creative projects for the music, entertainment and publishing industries, Rich designed book covers, websites, album covers, and animated advertisements for numerous super groups and celebrities, including, Pink Floyd, Yes, The Moody Blues, Cher, Elton John, Madonna, Willie Nelson, Jay-Z, Alice Cooper, Queen, Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath and numerous others.
Rich also provided creative assets for documentaries, including James Cameron’s The Lost Tomb of Jesus, Killing Hitler, The War Zone series, Return to Kirkuk,and Operation Valkyrie, as well as on cable TV shows, including Celebrity Mole, Blood Ties, Tracey Ullman's State of the Union, The Man Show and Monty Python: Almost the Truth.
Having conceived of and designed the Pantheon of Composers porcelain collection for Lincoln Center, Rich eventually distributed the collection to gift shops in performing arts centers nationwide and in Europe. His love of classical music led him to write magazine articles and online commentaries on the great composers, such as the Franz Liszt Site and Peter Tchaikovsky page, which still enjoy a worldwide reception from music lovers, college professors, and students of music, as well as journalists, such as P. Shaw of the Star-Telegram, who interviewed DiSilvio and used excerpts for his own article.
Having returned to college for multimedia programming in the mid-90s, Rich then conceived of, designed, and programmed the first educational software for autism with his Autism Academy CD-ROM. Premiering in 1999, and appearing in Newsday, the program was an interactive ABA learning tool, featuring animated lectures, videos, and interactive lessons to test learning acquisition.
After twenty-five-plus years of reading countless books on all aspects of history, Rich then turned his attention to his magnum opus, The Winds of Time, which was DiSilvio's first, full-scale literary work. The Winds of Time was a robust study of Western civilization that not only documented but also analyzed ancient civilizations, philosophers, emperors, a plethora of religious and political leaders—spanning two millennia—leading up the founding of the United States of America and ending with the presidency of George W. Bush.
The Winds of Time also featured numerous architects, scientists, artists, musicians, explorers, and brutal despots, all of whom were crucial to shaping Western civilization for good or bad. It was hailed by professors John LaCorte, Dr. Gilda Rorro Baldassari and prominent historian/professor H.W. Brands, who said "Most ambitious. I admire the thought and effort you put into this."
DiSilvio's historical thriller Liszt's Dante Symphony followed, presenting a unique and mysterious plot, with ciphers, serial killings, and spanning two generations, thus documenting Bismarck's militant rise, which led to Kaiser Wilhelm and World War I, and eventually culminated in the fiery cauldron of Hitler's Hell, akin to Dante's Inferno.
A Blazing Gilded Age followed next, being an international award-winning saga about the Wozniak family, poor coal-miners struggling to achieve the American dream. However, they soon fall victim to a ruthless coal tycoon and a lax government that offers minimal rights and scant protection. Great iconic figures appear throughout, bringing to life a critical era in American history.
Then came My Nazi Nemesis, the Gold Award winner of RF's International Book Contest and a finalist in the Goethe Awards. It is a fast-paced thriller/mystery with razor sharp dialogue and unexpected twists and turns that will keep readers engaged and baffled until its shocking conclusion.
Rich shifted gears and crafted two books for young readers: Meet My Famous Friends (an imaginative picture book and TopShelf First Place winner and RF Silver medalist), and the comical fantasy novelette Danny and the DreamWeaver, which is a Purple Dragonfly Winner. Both books have won Top Choice Awards from LitPick. As DiSilvio says about this dynamic duo, his intent was to "Inspire Kids with Humor."
DiSilvio then produced five separate collections of Short Stories, several of which won awards, and even TopShelf Best Cover Awards, with the second volume winning two Gold Awards for litaerary merit. The third to fifth volumes feature DiSilvio's penchant for speculative, sci-fi, and fantasy genres, and it is here that readers who love the works of Rod Serling, Gene Roddenberry, George R.R. Martin, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov and other titans can gain new insights into this endless genre of cosmic speculation via DiSilvio's unique contributions.
Responding to readers' requests for more stories featuring Armand Arnolfini, the savvy private eye who first appeared in Short Stories II, DiSilvio crafted two full volumes of art-crime cases in The Arnolfini Art Mysteries and Arnolfini Art Mysteries 2, each book receiving an enthusiastic response, as Armand hunts down forgers, thieves, and even ruthless ex-Nazis to recover great works of art from oblivion. Armand is eventually accompanied by his love interest and eventual wife, Andrea, and the duo go on their worldwide hunts to locate lost works from great artists like Leonardo da Vinci, Artemisia Gentileschi, Jan van Eyck, Jean Carpeaux, and even modern artists, like Yoko Ono, among many others.
Rich has likewise written articles on history, politics, art, and music, which have appeared in various magazines and books, such as Defending Ancient Rome ~ The Risorgimento: For Good or Ill? ~ Leonardo: Man of Mystery, Genius, Failures & Success ~ FBI (Founded By Italian): Charles Bonaparte, and Fascism’s Maestro: The Rebirth & Reappraisal of Alfredo Casella. Not only did the latter article inspire conductors to present Casella's long neglected works in recent concerts, but DiSilvio also honored Casella once again by making the master's ominous Second Symphony a key element in the thriller My Nazi Nemesis.
One of Rich's many sideline projects is the Great American Leaders mugs and T-shirts collection, which currently features great American Presidents and founders, such as Ben Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. Also included at the site are bicentennial mugs of the great composers Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner, Giuseppe Verdi, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Giacomo Puccini from his Pantheon of Composers collection originally created for Lincoln Center and other performing art centers in the USA & Europe. All these collections are available at DVbooks.net.
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