Charles Joseph Smith was born in Chicago, and raised in the Beverly neighborhood as a crossover musician, composer, dancer, and writer. His piano teachers included Sofia Zukerman, Kenneth Drake, William Heiles, Gustavo Romero, Emilio del Rosario, and Pawel Checinski, and his composition/theory teachers included Charlotte Lehnhoff and Don Malone. In 1988, he won first place in the Society of American Musicians (SAM) competition at Roosevelt University, in Chicago. In the same year, he won first place in the Classical Music and Composition categories in the ACT-SO competition in Chicago (The acronym means African-American Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics, which Vernon Jarrett founded.) He then represented ACT-SO in the national Competition in Washington D.C. and won second place in Classical Music. In 1989, he took first place in the local competition in the same categories and represented ACT-SO in the National Competition in Detroit, Michigan. In 1990, he won the ACT-SO First Place Award in Musical Composition at the local level and represented ACT-SO in the national competition in Los Angeles. Charles earned a BM in Piano (cum laude) at Roosevelt University in 1994, and later on., MM, and DMA degrees in piano performance at the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1995 and in 2002. While abroad in the 2000s in France, he attended the French Piano Institute in Paris, performed in debut piano recitals in St. Martin de Londres and Ganges (in 2005, and 2010), and finally, performed in 2 private salon concerts in Frontingan. He also toured In Italy, where he competed in the IBLA Grand Prize Competition, and then, in Hungary, where he attended the Racz School of Music camp in Budapest, in 2001. Charles also has been a trustee as well as an accompanist for Andrew Schultze’s Chicago Syntagma Musicum (or “Musical Discourse”) from 2010 to 2014, working with scores of vocal students in at least 10 major engagements in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL. These engagements included workshops and recitals mainly focusing on early music compositions, opera, or art song singing. He also performed at the National Association for Negro Musicians’ “Black Fantasy” Concert, along with Metropolitan Opera tenor, Mark Rucker at the South Shore Cultural Center on August 14, 2014. In 2016 and 2017, Charles performed at the Kroc Center on the south side of Chicago in two separate concerts sponsored by the Commonwealth Community Church. In February 2018, Charles debuted his new DIY music album, “War of the Martian Ghosts” at the Hideout Chicago—as the debut headliner-performer, and earned the highest-grossing gate money in his musical career after the performances had ended. Later on, in October 2019, Charles Smith and Angel Bat Dawid performed together on multiple grand pianos at the Elastic Arts Foundation venue, with extra collaborative creators Hope Arthur on piano, and Sara…Charles Joseph Smith was born in Chicago, and raised in the Beverly neighborhood as a crossover musician, composer, dancer, and writer. His piano teachers included Sofia Zukerman, Kenneth Drake, William Heiles, Gustavo Romero, Emilio del Rosario, and Pawel Checinski, and his composition/theory teachers included Charlotte Lehnhoff and Don Malone. In 1988, he won first place in the Society of American Musicians (SAM) competition at Roosevelt University, in Chicago. In the same year, he won first place in the Classical Music and Composition categories in the ACT-SO competition in Chicago (The acronym means African-American Cultural, Technological, and Scientific Olympics, which Vernon Jarrett founded.) He then represented ACT-SO in the national Competition in Washington D.C. and won second place in Classical Music. In 1989, he took first place in the local competition in the same categories and represented ACT-SO in the National Competition in Detroit, Michigan. In 1990, he won the ACT-SO First Place Award in Musical Composition at the local level and represented ACT-SO in the national competition in Los Angeles. Charles earned a BM in Piano (cum laude) at Roosevelt University in 1994, and later on., MM, and DMA degrees in piano performance at the U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, in 1995 and in 2002. While abroad in the 2000s in France, he attended the French Piano Institute in Paris, performed in debut piano recitals in St. Martin de Londres and Ganges (in 2005, and 2010), and finally, performed in 2 private salon concerts in Frontingan. He also toured In Italy, where he competed in the IBLA Grand Prize Competition, and then, in Hungary, where he attended the Racz School of Music camp in Budapest, in 2001. Charles also has been a trustee as well as an accompanist for Andrew Schultze’s Chicago Syntagma Musicum (or “Musical Discourse”) from 2010 to 2014, working with scores of vocal students in at least 10 major engagements in the Fine Arts Building in Chicago and at the St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL. These engagements included workshops and recitals mainly focusing on early music compositions, opera, or art song singing. He also performed at the National Association for Negro Musicians’ “Black Fantasy” Concert, along with Metropolitan Opera tenor, Mark Rucker at the South Shore Cultural Center on August 14, 2014. In 2016 and 2017, Charles performed at the Kroc Center on the south side of Chicago in two separate concerts sponsored by the Commonwealth Community Church. In February 2018, Charles debuted his new DIY music album, “War of the Martian Ghosts” at the Hideout Chicago—as the debut headliner-performer, and earned the highest-grossing gate money in his musical career after the performances had ended. Later on, in October 2019, Charles Smith and Angel Bat Dawid performed together on multiple grand pianos at the Elastic Arts Foundation venue, with extra collaborative creators Hope Arthur on piano, and SaraWWWW…