Pianist and musical scholar Roy Howat explores from the piano, with visual illustrations, the rich vein of classical music produced by composers like Debussy, Ravel, Chabrier, and Fauré. One of the most surprising yet frequent discoveries of Howat’s widely varied research is how meticulously precise and inventive these composers were in their aims and techniques. Some of that can be related, on the composers’ own admissions, to the writings of Edgar Allen Poe.

Roy Howat, an internationally acclaimed Steinway Artist, is renowned for his expertise in French music. Alongside the esteemed pianist Vlado Perlemuter, Howat co-published a comprehensive study of French music. Howat has shared his knowledge through lectures and masterclasses at esteemed American institutions like Juilliard and Eastman Schools. Holding university positions worldwide, he serves as the Keyboard Research Fellow at London’s Royal Academy of Music and as a Research Fellow at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524.

Image: Alphonse Leon Noël, The Musick-Master (Le maître de musique) (detail), 1814–1866, lithograph on paper. The Clark, 1955.2312