Category: cv (Page 1 of 4)

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Lieven Baeyens was born on March 10, 1951, in Wilrijk (Antwerp). His maternal grandmother, Maria Hye, introduced him to the world of music. Gaby Van Nuffel (keyboard) and Jan Van Bouwel (music theory) were his first teachers at the Leuven Municipal Conservatory.

He graduated from the Lemmens Institute with several first prizes in 1974. Frans Geysen is a source of inspiration in the fields of composition and analysis. He attended masterclasses in Remscheid (Germany) at the Akademie für Musische Bildung und Medienerziehung (Pavel Blatny, composition, and Peter Trunk, improvisation) and in Moltifao (Corsica, France) with the Fédération nationale d’Associations Culturelles et d’Expansion Musicale (Michel Corboz, stage director).

As an independent student, he studied theatre at the University of Antwerp, as well as at the Universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam on an Erasmus grant.

From 1986 to 2000, he taught dramaturgy, text and music analysis, choral conducting, and theatre projects at the Faculty of Arts of the Eindhoven Academy of Dramatic Art (now Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg, Netherlands).

With set designer Diane Batens, he founded the IOTA theatre working group (vzw) in 1989, and ten years later, the IOTA company (asbl). Initially based in Barvaux-sur-Ourthe, and since 2006, the workshop at the Poupehan-sur-Semois school in Bouillon has been recognized by the authorities of the French Community of Belgium through a partnership agreement. With professional collaborators, they have created around twenty stage productions for young people and toured Europe with contemporary dance, theatre, visual performances and opera.

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Born in 1940, he completed his musical studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, where he earned First Prizes in solfège, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, and organ, as well as the Alphonse Mailly Prize.

A concert performer, he has appeared in Belgium, Germany, and England, giving over 750 concerts. As a composer, he has written more than 165 works, including a symphony, a concerto for organ and orchestra, four cantatas, a concertino for violin and orchestra, sonatas, chamber music, songs, and more.

Among his works, noteworthy are the Piano Sonatina, Opus 63, awarded a prize by the Higher Council for Art and Aesthetics of Europe, and the Concertino for Two Pianos, Opus 30, premiered at the Belgian Music Biennial in 1972 on RTBF (the Belgian French-language public broadcaster).

In 1984, his Esquisse concertante, opus 99, for organ, and in 1990, his Capriccio for clarinet and piano, were required pieces for the end-of-year competitions in the academies of the French Community by the Ministry of Culture.

In 1992, he was invited to compose Classic as the required piece for the Crédit Communal National Competition. His work Hymn from Antwerp for four brass instruments and organ was premiered as part of the “Antwerp, European Capital of Culture” celebrations.

Also in 1992, the Union of Belgian Composers awarded Félix Snyers the “Fuga” trophy in recognition of his ongoing contributions to contemporary Belgian music.

A professor since 1960, he obtained, by examination, the position of director of the Academy of Music and Spoken Arts of Molenbeek-St-Jean in 1977. Félix Snyers is the artistic director of the Musical Hour at the Town Hall of Molenbeek-St-Jean, and editor of the periodical Fuga of the Union of Belgian Composers.

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Belgian pianist, cellist, composer, singer-songwriter and musicologist of Polish origin born in Namur in 1979, Grażyna Bienkowski follows a complete route between university, Conservatories and master classes which will give rise to a most atypical career.

Since 2005, deeply inspired by film music, this former freelancer from BOZAR and the La Monnaie Opera in Brussels composes and creates in a neo-classical and contemporary style, passing through jazz and songwriting with indie rock accents.

As a versatile pianist, Grażyna also performs in various artistic projects, both in the studio and on stage. This has led her to collaborate with Belgian and international artists such as Yan Pechin (FR), Patrice Soletti (FR), DAAN (BE), Jeanna Criscitiello (BE/US), Ken Stringfellow (US),…

In 2010, she released a self-produced solo piano EP (Antichambre). Then, she composed for duos and trios, heavily influenced by jazz and its harmonies. In 2015, songwriting was added to her repertoire. She wrote an entire album (Products of Love) for her female duo Wolves, introducing vocals into her writing for the first time. The album was released on the Liège-based label Homerecords.be in 2018. In 2021, she returned to her musical roots by revisiting Erik Satie with the release of the album “Vexations, vol. 19” on Off-Record Label. This album will be released physically in May 2023 by SOOND LABEL under the title “Vexations Revisited.” The world premiere will take place at the ARS MUSICA contemporary music festival in Brussels in November 2024.

Drawing on all her experiences and keen to remain active in changing the landscape of the music industry, she joined the Belgian Screen Composers Guild in 2017. This association is dedicated to film music and its composers, and she became the first woman member of its board in 2019. Grażyna then joined the composers’ forum and most recently, the Union of Belgian Composers during spring 2026.

Grażyna Bienkowski also composed all the solo piano music for “J’ai oublié d’être un homme” (I Forgot to be a man), a musical and literary performance dedicated to women poets, in collaboration with Belgian singer and actress Karin Clercq. The show toured various Belgian festivals and theaters between 2021 and 2024.

Her latest album “On the Edge of Sylvia” has been released in May 2024 on the French label December Square. It’s a true literary soundtrack whose central theme is the poetry and life of the American Sylvia Plath.  Inside, the listener can find her diverse musical influences as well as the artists who have marked her journey (DAAN, Ken Stringfellow, Jeanna Criscitiello, Douglas Kennedy).

This album, which she considers very personal, brings together her skills in the fields of composition, performance, and also in writing lyrics in English.

In 2025, she recorded the cello part for the piece Works of Art & Copies by Brussels-based American performance artist Jeanna Criscitiello. This commission from Laurence Petrone, curator of the Royal Museums of Art and History, accompanied an exhibition about their plaster casting workshops. The music blends acoustic instruments (primarily Grażyna’s cello) and electronic elements.

In 2026, Belgian conductor Jean-Paul Dessy commissioned a piece from her for the 12 musicians of the Musiques Nouvelles ensemble. T.E.N. (Temporal Eclipse of Now) was created in world premiere at Arsonic Mons and then in Flagey in Brussels at the end of May 2026.

Grażyna Bienkowski is currently in production on her next album, which will have a highly cinematic feel.

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Jean Paul Carrière, a non-professional musician, was born in Etterbeek (a municipality of Brussels) on March 29, 1949, to a father from Liège and a mother from Brussels of Flemish origin.
He was literally immersed in music from childhood. His father had learned (also as an amateur) to play the piano and organ and had composed several pieces for these instruments, as well as melodies. He therefore heard him play not only his own compositions but also other works on the piano and sing his melodies while accompanying himself.
He attended a Catholic school, which gave him the opportunity to be part of the choir and thus sing the entire Gregorian chant repertoire as well as polyphonic religious works.
Music was omnipresent in his home, both on the radio and on records. He began playing a little piano, then taught himself to play the accompaniment guitar.
Later, he studied singing at the Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Academy and, at the Woluwe-Saint-Lambert Academy, piano, accompaniment guitar, and classical guitar, and even some chamber music. For several years, he accompanied himself on guitar at liturgical services at Don Bosco College and the Saint Luc Clinics in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. From 2008 onward, he began composing for piano and gradually for other instruments; he then set poems to music and composed several songs. His catalog includes more than 230 works.

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Michel Defourny, born in 1957, is an engineer and a self-taught composer.

He holds a degree in electromechanical engineering and a doctorate in Applied Sciences from the University of Liège. However, alongside his studies and later his career, he has always been drawn to classical music, in which his parents immersed him from a very young age. As he likes to say, he learned to compose music the way a child learns to speak: by listening and experimenting.

As a self-taught composer, he wrote his first compositions during his adolescence and while studying classical guitar at the Grétry Academy in Liège. These short guitar pieces are improvisations that have taken shape through repeated playing. A few years ago, he compiled his best pieces into two collections:

• Ambiances musicales (10 pieces)
• Pièces caractéristiques pour guitare (8 pieces)

which are available on the online sheet music site FreeScore.

Around the age of 20, he took over the direction of a choir, which he led for 17 years, during which time he harmonized and composed numerous pieces for four voices.

He then devoted himself to musical composition more generally, exploring various instruments and ensembles. He was fortunate to cross paths with Danielle Baas, who regularly featured him in the concerts she organized, allowing him to meet many composers and musicians, which allowed him to develop his writing and style. In particular, he has written several hexatonic works.

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Vincent Ghadimi was born in Rocourt on September 14, 1968. It was only in 1986 that he began his musical studies at the Schaerbeek Academy, where he studied piano with Leonardo Anglani. At the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, he obtained first prizes in piano (Vanden Eynden) and chamber music, as well as a higher diploma in advanced solfège. At the Rotterdam Conservatory, in the class of Aquiles Delle-Vigne, he earned a Master of Music diploma in piano and chamber music, and also specialized in four-hand and two-piano performance with Nelson Delle-Vigne Fabri. He then studied with him for three years at the Alfred Cortot School of Music in Paris and also attended masterclasses with Lazar Berman, Zoltan Kocsis, Andrei Nikolsky, and others.

Vincent Ghadimi is also a recipient of two first prizes from international piano competitions (1993: Rotterdam “Doelen”, 1995: Spain “Ibiza International Piano Competition”). His piano recitals in France, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain have earned him high praise from the music press.

In 2005, he founded Ensemble Polyface with harpist Cécile Marichal, which performs regularly in concert. Alongside his piano career, he has composed several works, including “Nutations” for clarinet and piano (published by Alain Van Kerckhoven and recorded by René Gailly), “Jongleurs de Têtes” for solo piano, written for the 2002 Orléans Competition and awarded an honorable mention in its second version at the 2006 TIM Competition, 10 songs for children (in Dutch) with voice and piano accompaniment (published by Lantro Music, www.lantromusic.be), “Mémoires d’enfance,” and several Preludes for piano, also published by Lantro Music.

In 2005, he participated as composer, children’s choir director, and conductor in the children’s opera “Décamero lala” (performed at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels).

He also teaches piano and music theory and is an accompanist at the Dutch-speaking Academy of Brussels.

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Pianist-composer Marc Matthys (born 1956, Ghent) was drawn to music from a young age. As early as 1964, he won a European title at the CEA International Accordion Competition in Paris. After classical music training at the Royal Conservatory of Music in his native Ghent, where he was awarded the Higher Diploma in Piano and Chamber Music, as well as First Prizes in Counterpoint and Fugue, he established himself as an exceptionally versatile musician in diverse musical genres, including classical, jazz, and pop.

He has collaborated with figures such as Frédéric Devreese, Dirk Brossé, Rudolf Werthen, Walter Boeykens, Neeme Järvi, Aga Winska, Henry Raudales, Roby Lakatos, Toots Thielemans, Eddie Daniels, Ali Ryerson, Paquito d’Rivera, Jo Lemaire, Leen Persijn, and Shirley Bassey.

To date, he has released some 30 CDs and two DVDs for various labels,
many of which feature his own compositions.

From 1986 to 2016, he was director of the Kortrijk City Conservatory and, since 1978, has taught at the Ghent University College, Royal Conservatory Department, where he founded the Jazz Department. He has received several awards, including the Grand Prix Humanitaire de France, and has been a laureate of competitions such as Tenuto ’79 (VRT), the Joseph Van Roy Piano Competition (Ghent), the Klara Composition Competition, the Europ’ Jazz Contest, and the Dunkirk Jazz Competition. He has performed in Europe, the USA, Russia, and China.

His quartet, featuring flutist Dirk De Caluwé and others, performed at the Royal Palace for the silver wedding anniversary of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola. He was also a solo composer at the World Expo in Shanghai and the NFA Convention in Las Vegas. Recordings of his compositions have been released with the VRO, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the National Orchestra of Belgium, I Fiamminghi, L’Arco Musicale, Ensemble Walter Boeykens, Big Band Sound, Toots Thielemans, Jo Lemaire, cellist Viviane Spanoghe, pianist André De Groote, flutist Peter Verhoyen, Arco Baleno, the Kugoni Trio, and Convivium Musicum.

Marc Matthys was a visiting professor at Bowling Green State University (Ohio), a board member of Sabam (1995-1999), a founding board member and chairman of ComaV (the Flemish Composers’ Association), a board member of UBC (Union of Belgian Composers), and has served on international juries since 1982, including the Europ’ Jazz Contest, the International Clarinet Competition, and the Adolphe Sax Competition.

Marc Matthys is a Knight in the Order of Leopold and an Officer in the Order of the Crown.

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After completing his Higher Secondary Arts Education, Alain Craens chose to study at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp, where he earned First Prizes in Composition (A. De Vleeshouwer Prize), Music Theory, Harmony (Paul Gilson Prize), Counterpoint, Fugue, Oboe, English Horn, and Chamber Music.

From 1978 to 1998, he taught oboe, chamber music, and harmony at the Municipal Music Conservatory of Leuven, the State Academy of Antwerp, and the Municipal Music Academy of Antwerp (Ekeren branch), where he served as acting director from 1993 to 1996.

He teaches music notation and arrangement and coordinates the AMV courses at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp, where he has also served as artistic director since 2001.

As a performing musician, he was the oboe soloist with the orchestra of the Flemish Chamber Opera and the Flemish Chamber Orchestra, and he gave concerts with various ensembles and orchestras at home and abroad.

Alain Craens earned the Paul Gilson Prize for Harmony and the A. De Vleeshouwer Prize upon graduation. He also received the same A. De Vleeshouwer Prize in May 1985 for his composition “Divertimento for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon.” He also received the Cantabile Prize for piano composition twice, in 1989 and 1991.

Alain Craens has received various composition commissions, and his works have been premiered and performed by renowned musicians and ensembles. Many of his compositions are available on CD (e.g., with labels such as Arsis Classics, Phaedra, and De Haske) or recorded for radio.

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Luc Van Hove (born 1957) received his musical training at the Royal Flemish
Music Conservatory in Antwerp. He studied composition with Willem Kersters, analysis with August Verbesselt, piano with Lode Backx, and
music history with Kamiel Cooremans. He later also took advanced courses in orchestral conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and composition and choreography at the University of Surrey in Guildford.

Luc Van Hove’s list of achievements includes several composition prizes, including the Annie Rutzky Prize, the Sabam Belgian Artistic Promotion Prize, the Albert de Vleeshouwer Prize, and the Sabam Serious Music Prize 1993.

Luc Van Hove is a former extraordinary teacher at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and currently teaches composition at the Antwerp Conservatory and composition and analysis at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven. He is also a promoter and artistic advisor at the Orpheus Institute and a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts.

Luc Van Hove has commissioned works from numerous prominent organizers and performers. He has composed for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders, the Flemish Radio Orchestra, the Brussels Philharmonic Society, the deSingel International Arts Centre, Antwerp ’93 European Capital of Culture, I Fiamminghi, the Beethoven Academy, and Roel Dieltiens and his ensemble Explorations. He was also composer-in-residence at the Flanders International Festival, was appointed guest composer for the Week of Contemporary Music in Ghent, and was the featured composer for the I Fiamminghi in Campo festival in 1997.

Luc Van Hove’s oeuvre includes works such as “Carnival on the Beach” for orchestra, opus 17, Symphony 1, opus 25, “Stacked Time” for electric guitar and orchestra, opus 26, Triptych for oboe and orchestra, opus 29, String Quartet,
opus 30, Piano Concerto, opus 32, “Strings,” opus 33, Symphony 2, opus 34, “Kammerkonzert” for cello and ensemble, opus 36, Symphony 3, opus 39, and “Four Sacred Songs for Mixed Choir,” opus 42.

Luc Van Hove enjoys great renown not only in Belgium but also abroad. His work has been performed at the Midem Festival in Cannes, during the promenade concerts at De Doelen in Rotterdam, and at the November Music festival.

Furthermore, renowned international ensembles and musicians regularly perform works by Luc Van Hove: the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Brodsky Quartet, the Arditti Quartet, the Xenakis Ensemble, and cellist Pieter Wispelwey.

See also: Peter Benoit Prize 2026 awarded to Luc Van Hove