Rex Lawson in Birmingham in May 2004 In concert halls and recording studios throughout the world, Rex Lawson's name is synonymous with the pianola; not the brash, mechanical variety found in cowboy films and backstreet bars, but rather the original pianola, a sophisticated instrument which responds well to serious study, and which fits in front of the keyboard of any normal concert grand, playing it by means of a set of felt-covered wooden fingers. Life with the Lawsons Rex Lawson was born in Bromley, Kent in 1948, to parents who met through playing two-piano music. His own piano studies commenced at a very early age, apparently with Chopin's "Winter Wind" Etude, and an aptitude for pedalling was also discovered. Early pianola studies Rex studied music, including piano, organ and bassoon, at Dulwich College, as a junior exhibitioner of the Royal College of Music, and at Nottingham University. Fascinated by his first pianola in 1971, he abandoned plans for a more traditional musical career, and initially concentrated on concerts with reproducing pianos, bringing back Percy Grainger to play the Grieg Piano Concerto at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 1972, over ten years after the pianist's death. Further such concerts ensued during the 1970s, introducing Rachmaninov, Busoni, Percy Grainger and even Santa Claus to the delights of London's Purcell Room stage. Concerts in the 1970s At the same time, inspired by William Candy, erstwhile music roll critic of the Gramophone and Musical Times, Rex began studying the pianola, the foot-operated player-piano, making his major international debut in 1981 in Paris, performing in the world première of Stravinsky's Les Noces (1919 version), under the direction of Pierre Boulez. During the 1980s he helped to found the Pianola Institute, a non-profit educational charity that publishes an annual scholarly journal and occasional CD recordings, and promotes pianola and reproducing piano concerts. He makes his own perforated music rolls, on the Perforetur label, which he initiated in 1986, and he has around two hundred mainly classical titles to his credit. He is generally regarded as the world expert on Stravinsky and the Pianola, and was for several years a friend of Conlon Nancarrow, who dedicated a Pianola Concerto to him, though unfortunately did not live to complete it. Rex Lawson with Conlon Nancarrow Highlights of a rewarding international career have included an appearance as soloist at Carnegie Hall in George Antheil's Ballet Mécanique, the renewed resuscitation of Percy Grainger for the Last Night of the Proms in 1988, and the first concert performances of nearly all of Stravinsky's pianola works, including the Rite of Spring at the Théâtre des Champs Élysées in Paris. Rex Lawson at his studio in south London Rex Lawson lives in south London with a very understanding wife, a library of over ten thousand music rolls, and a well furnished computer and engineering workshop. He writes his own machine-code computer programs and enjoys presenting concerts in a number of European languages.