Lawry, Charles

(B.A. magna cum laude in Religious Studies, the University of Arizona, 2005; M.A. in Ethnomusicology, Columbia University, 2007). The juxtaposition between material and expressive culture expressed within the global circulation and exchange of "things" is Charles' primary research interest. His dissertation project will explore these disjunctures among architectural projects that are transforming the physical and visual landscape of Reykjavik and ostensibly, affecting Icelandic senses of identity and space. His dissertation topic is fueled, in part from Charles' interest in the social history of his own material goods such as ballet pointe shoes and pianos.

Charles is a pianist, dancer, singer and composer. During his youth, he studied composition at Westminster Choir College, San Francisco Conservatory and piano under the auspices of the Associate Boards of Royal Schools of Music. When he was 15, soloists from the Philadelphia Orchestra debuted his first piano quintet, "Celestial Suite". Ten years later, he is working as a pop singer-songwriter with an Argentine megaproducer in South Beach. His personal stylistic shifts have inspired his secondary interest in the use of pianistic ability among major label artists to arouse a mutual belief in authenticity and musicality between performers and fans.

Charles is currently a Columbia Teaching Fellow and has received the Haynes Fellowship in Social Sciences (2007-2008) at Columbia University. He was a McNair scholar at the University of Arizona where he began studying ethnomusicology under the tutelage of Dr. Janet Sturman, a Center for Ethnomusicology alumnus.

Email: cal2135@columbia.edu