Category: News

Peter Benoit Prize 2026 awarded to Luc Van Hove

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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 according to a four year cycle 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.

Invitation to the General Assembly on March 24th, 2026

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Dear UCB Members,

You are warmly invited to attend the Ordinary General Meeting on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at 12:00 PM.

Address: SABAM, Rue des Deux Eglises 41/43, 1000 Brussels, Main Stage Room, 1st floor.

Please confirm your attendance.

AGENDA

Approval of the minutes of October 16, 2025.
Approval of the 2025 annual accounts and review of the already approved 2026 provisional budget. 2025 activity report. Discharge of the administrators.
Miscellaneous: Authorization to publish the list of active members.
Signatures on documents.

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UBC Festival February 1st, 2026

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UBC Festival 2026

A huge thank you to Bruno Ispiola and Gauvain de Morant for the UBC Festival concert on February 1, 2026. What a beautiful concert, what beautiful works! Thank you to the composers for their warm presence. And thank you to the Wallonia-Brussels Federation – Music, Art and Life Department and to SABAM for allowing us to share such wonderful musical moments.

Presents : Michel Béro, Vincent Ghadimi, Bart Verstraeten, Renier Doutrelepont, Nicole De Paepe, Marc Matthys, Luc Van Hove en/et Anne Martin, Vigdis Hans-Elst, Renata Rsayakhova, Hans Sluys, Fabio Schinazi.

             

Bruno Ispiola, cello

Gauvain de Morant, piano

Invitation: Meeting of Thursday February 5th, 2026

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Meeting of Thursday February 5th, 2026 from 11h00 to 14h00

Dear Composers and Musicians,

The Belgian Composers’ Union (UCB) is organizing a meeting in the first quarter of 2026 for musicians—saxophonists and clarinetists, violinists, pianists—and UCB member composers (and publishers).

This meeting will allow us to choose the repertoire for the upcoming UCB 2027 concert.

Composers are invited to bring unpublished works, or published works, which you can give to the musicians free of charge.

  • for solo saxophone – for solo clarinet
  • for saxophone and piano duo / for clarinet and piano duo
  • for clarinet, violin, and piano trio
  • for clarinet quartet

to be presented to the musicians in attendance. This is contemporary classical music.

Please feel free to share this information with your contacts, musicians, and composers who wish to join or support the Union of Belgian Composers (UCB-UBC website).

We look forward to seeing you on Thursday, February 5th, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM at SABAM, 41/43 Rue des Deux Eglises, 1000 Brussels, in the Expo Room, 1st floor.

Registration required for the organization: ucb-ubc@proximus.be

Present: Alain Crepin, Valentin Bouland, Akiko Okawa, Cédric De Bruycker, Quentin Meurisse, Shahriar Sharifpour, Michel Déom, Nicolas Gianniodis, Kris De Baerdemacker, Michel Defourny, Irma Bilbao, Stefaan Vanheertum, Christiane Ghiette, Renier Doutrelepont, Danielle Baas, Cornelia Zambila, Juan Marco Albarracin, Jean-Pierre Deleuze, Jean Paul Carrière, Stephane Vande Ginste, Mieke Van Haute.

With the support of SABAM.

UBC FESTIVAL 2025, October 4th

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UBC FESTIVAL 2025

Clotilde van Dieren, mezzo, Maïté Leuridan, cello, Charlotte Otte, piano

Saturday October 4th, 2025 at 15:00

Auditorium Pianos Maene Argonne street, 37 1060 Brussels

 

Fee 15€ – Gratis for UBC-members

Reservation compulsory: ucb-ubc@proximus.be

 

Works by

Marc-Henri CYKIERT, Sarah WÉRY, Kris DE BAERDEMACKER-Rainer Maria RILKE, Pieter SCHUERMANS, Raoul DE SMET-Charles BAUDELAIRE, Danielle BAASBernard GENON, David BALTUCH, Patrick DHEURBéatrice LIBERT, Johan SLUYS-MULTATULI

Program :2025 10 04 Livret Trio van Dieren Leuridan Otte

Biographies : Marc-Henri CYKIERT, Kris DE BAERDEMACKER, Pieter SCHUERMANS, Raoul DE SMET, Danielle BAAS, David BALTUCH, Patrick DHEUR, Johan SLUYS

With the support of

SABAM for Culture – National Lotery – Thanks to all players ofthe National Lotery

Made with the help of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service des Musiques / les Tournées Art et Vie de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.