A native of Wisconsin, Edward Smith graduated from Lawrence University in 1957, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study composition in Florence, Italy. He went on to study the harpsichord with the widely respected Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University. As harpsichordist, he has performed throughout North and South America, Europe, Israel and the ex-Soviet Union. He has performed in Paris, Rome, Milan and at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice. He has also performed on historic organs in Venice and the Veneto.

Mr. Smith has recorded harpsichord music of d’Anglebert, Chambonnières, Handel-Babell and Duphly, and is also featured on many recordings of the New York Pro Musica, the Waverly Consort and the Clemencic Consort. His latest CDs are devoted to organ music by A. Gabrieli, Frescobaldi and Zipoli, Italian harpsichord sonatas by Grazioli, Paradies and others, and a three-disc set of works by J. S. Bach, François Couperin and Domenico Scarlatti. Edward Smith has lived in Italy since 1980, and is on the faculty of the Seminari Internazionali di Musica Barocca, Sacile, and the Scuola di Musica Antica, Venice.

The instrument to be used by Mr. Smith was built and decorated by Walter and Berta Burr of Hoosick, New York, among the best known instrument makers in the world. It was made in 1986, and is based on a 1760 Paris instrument by Benoist Stehlin, now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution. It has two keyboards and three sets of strings, and its design represents three centuries of harpsichord development.

Attendees are invited to join Mr. Smith and the sponsors after the concert for dinner at Allegro restaurant, on Main Street in Bennington.

The Fourth Annual Burr Harpsichord Concert is sponsored jointly by the Bennington Cultural and Arts Council, Allegro Restaurant, and the Bennington Museum, and is part of the Arts Council's June Arts Festival.