Roy Howat was appointed Keyboard Research Fellow at the Royal Academy of Music in 2003. Born in Scotland to a Scottish father and a Czech mother, he studied in Glasgow (at the now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and at King's College, Cambridge. During this time he also studied French piano repertoire intensively in Paris with distinguished pianist Vlado Perlemuter, who had worked closely with Ravel and Fauré.

As a pianist Howat enjoys a wide concert repertoire and has premiered works by composers including Emmanuel Chabrier, Debussy, Ravel, Robin Orr and Wendy Hiscocks. He appears with various distinguished chamber music colleagues, including the legendary Prague-based Panocha Quartet. During the 1980s he toured Béla Bartók's Sonata for two pianos and percussion around the Antipodes with Erzsébet Tusa, the former duo partner of Ditta Bartók, earning standing ovations. He has appeared as concerto soloist with major orchestras on several continents and gives masterclasses, broadcasts and lectures worldwide in several languages.

Howat's specialization in French music has yielded two groundbreaking books (Debussy in Proportion, Cambridge University Press, 1983, and The Art of French Piano Music, Yale University Press, 2009). Practical fruits of these editions can be heard in Howat's recordings of Chabrier piano music (STIL), Debussy's complete solo piano works (Tall Poppies), Fauré piano music including duets with Emily Kilpatrick, (ABC Classics), Fauré: Complete Works For Violin & Piano with violinist Alban Beikircher (BMG/Arte Nova) and several other recordings of chamber music. Besides his concert career and attachment to the Royal Academy of Music, Howat is also Research Fellow at his old alma mater, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.