Lawrence Ferrara, pianist, music theorist with expertise in music copyright. Piano studies with Gustave Ferri, Genia Robinor, Murray Present, Robert Goldsand, and Donald Currier. Chamber Music with Artur Balsam and Raphael Bronstein. Recordings for Orion Master Recordings and Musique International. Performances throughout North America and Europe including radio and television. Reviews by New York Times and other newspapers. Author and/or co-author of three books and numerous contributions to American and foreign journals on music theory, keyboard harmony and improvisation, philosophy of music, aesthetics, research methodologies, music education, and medical issues for musical performers. For example, A Guide to Research in Music Education (written with Roger Phelps) has been a standard text used throughout North America and enjoyed a Fifth Edition released in 2005.

Regarding Dr. Ferrara's critically acclaimed book, Philosophy and the Analysis of Music: Bridges to Musical Sound, Form and Reference, reviewers have written:

• "He brings to this enterprise an accomplished analytical technique...In a tour de force, Ferrara leads us through Bartok's Improvisation No. 3 Opus 20 in an eclectic analysis par excellence...the writing and presentation are often quite brilliant, i.e., lucidly conceived and written with distinct literary skills...I think this is the great merit of Ferrara's method: he works from within both the musical and philosophical experience and is expert in both." (F. Joseph Smith, founding editor-in-chief of The Journal of Musicological Research);

• "One could read the chapters on phenomenology and hermeneutics, nearly a third of the book, and benefit from Ferrara's unusual ability to explain a difficult tradition in modern philosophy...One could read the chapters on referential meaning and the phenomenological analysis of music and gain an excellent sense of the issues and contributions in these areas...for his expositions are invariably clear, comprehensive, and judicious...that Ferrara undertakes all these methodically and in detail testifies to the seriousness of his undertaking and that he does it so well reveals the unusual breadth of his competence." (Arnold Berleant, review in The Canadian Review of Philosophy);

• "Lawrence Ferrara is a consummate philosopher who brings to his philosophizing both the special interpretive skills of the performer and those of the musicologist...The outcome is an excellent study, pioneering in the best sense and rewarding." (Jose Huertas-Jourda, Department of Philosophy, Wilfred Laurier University, review in the journal, Phenomenology and the Human Sciences);

• "Ferrara's book represents a truly exemplary case, from more than one perspective...The air that one breathes throughout this book is that of a new synthesis that would harmonize sense and technique...here there is a characteristic depth of discussion and thorough attention to the critical traditions that engage each successive issue as it appears. This demonstrates a rarely seen competence on both the musicological and philosophical planes...conclusively confirming the merits of Lawrence Ferrara's text...." (Giovanni Piana, Department of Philosophy, University of Milan, written in Italian in the journal, Axiomathes);

• "Ferrara's book is bold and scholarly...Its range and its quality are impressive...It is rich in its references. It is a very good book." (Thomas F. Cloonan, review in Journal of Phenomenological Psychology)

At NYU, Dr. Ferrara has been The Director of Music Performance Programs and later, Director of Doctoral Studies of Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts. Since 1995 he has been Chair and Director leading 300 faculty and over 1,500 students who major in bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in music and the performing arts professions.

Dr. Ferrara sits on the Editorial Board of the journals, Arts Praxis (NYU) and Music and Moving Image (University of Illinois Press), on the board of Editorial Consultants for the journal, Philosophy of Music Education Review (Indiana University Press), was Associate Editor of Journal of Qualitative Evaluation in the Arts, and a member of the editorial board New York University Education Quarterly. He has been co-P.I. on federal and foundation grants for research in performing arts medicine. He was Vice President and co-founder of MedArt International, a non-profit federation of physicians and artists fostering research that bridges the arts to medicine. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Music Business Department at Loyola University, New Orleans. Dr. Ferrara was a winner of a Presidential Fellowship and the Daniel E. Griffiths Award for research, the latter regarding his work on Schopenhauer's philosophy of music (published 1996, Cambridge University Press).

Dr. Ferrara is an active music copyright consultant for all major record, music publishing and motion picture companies as well as numerous independent companies in issues involving numerous composer/artists including: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Billy Joel, Bob Dylan, Gloria Estefan, Paul Simon, Jay Z, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Prince, Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Janet Jackson, Sean Combs, Ludacris, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, (the late) Michael Jackson, Missy Elliott, 50 Cent, Wyclef Jean, (the late) James Brown, Marc Anthony, Hillary Duff, (the late) Notrious B.I.G., DMX, Alicia Keys, Ice-T, (the late) Luther Vandross, Enrique Iglesias, Tom Petty, (the late) Tupac, Shania Twain, Toby Keith, Merle Haggard, Mary J. Blige, Mtume, Usher, and Jennifer Lopez as well as numerous groups such as Black Eyed Peas, 3 Doors Down, Nirvana, Beastie Boys, Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz, N'Sync, Filter, U2, Wu Tang, Train, Real McCoy, SWV, Linkin Park, The Ramones, War and Green Day.