Views: 2
The 2026 Peter Benoit Prize – A Composer’s Lifetime Achievement – has been awarded to Luc Van Hove. With this distinction, the jury honors a composer who, for over forty years, has built a major, versatile, and internationally acclaimed body of work. Van Hove’s music, which blends tradition and contemporary techniques with remarkable originality and coherence, is regularly performed in Belgium and abroad and occupies a prominent place in the repertoire. In addition to his compositional work, this prize also recognizes his significant educational and cultural impact.
The jury for the 2026 Peter Benoit Prize consisted of Wietse Beels (Taurus Quartet), Gunther Broucke (Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra), Maarten Van Ingelgem (LUCA School of Arts), and Petra Vermote (KASK and Ghent Conservatory). The Peter Benoit Prize is awarded every four years and successively recognizes the lifetime achievement of a composer, a performer, a researcher, and a new composition. The award recognizing a composer’s entire career was first awarded in 2018 to Frits Celis, and in 2022 to Jacqueline Fontyn.