Danielle Baas
A Belgian composer of Amsterdam origin, born in 1958, Danielle Baas studied at the Jette Academy of Music and continued her training at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels.

She is a laureate of several international composition prizes.

In 2001, she founded the flexible ensemble Mikrokosmos, whose aim is to promote the creation of Belgian works.

Fuga Prize 2004.

From 2005 to 2008, she founded and organized an annual Belgian music festival in Berchem-Sainte-Agathe called ‘Festival Emergence’.

SoundArt Radio in the UK will dedicate a program to her works in 2010.

In 2010, she organized the international concert ‘In the Footsteps of Chopin and Liszt’ by the European Trio Elisabeth Deletaille, Bruno Ispiola, and André Grignard, featuring a repertoire of Women of the World, which was a huge success and was reprised in Russia in 2011 and partially in Argentina.

Symphonic Project in France will dedicate a program to her chamber music.

Artistic Director of the Osmose Festival in Evere since 2015.

Recipient of the 2015 Fuga Prize (personal award).

Artistic Director of L'Heure Musicale in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean since May 2021.

President of the Union of Belgian Composers since late 2023.

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.

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.

Year(s)	Subject
1971 – 1973 & 1974 - 1975	Student at the Ciney Academy of Music in Rochefort – Piano and solfège
1984 – now	Member of SABAM
2003 – 2006	Participation in composition and improvisation workshops (Maison de la Création, formerly AMALIA, Laeken) by Antoine Prawerman
2004 – 2006	Participation in the Musical Analysis course (Saint-Gilles) by Jean-Marie Rens
2005 – 2006	Participation in the improvisation course (Etterbeek Academy) by Michel Massot
2006	Three piano sessions at Ictus (Forest) recorded by Brice Cannavo
2006 – 2007	Participation in the improvisation course (Royal Conservatory of Liège) by Garrett List
2006 – 2009	Participation in composition workshops (Froidlieu, etc.): Lab#3, Lab#5, Lab#6, Lab#7
2007 – 2012	Participation in three music writing workshops (ADEM, Louvain-la-Neuve)
2009 – 2011	Participation in three AKDT (Libramont) workshops on making lithophones, with Tony Di Napoli & Florence Fréson
2020 – now	Writing orchestral works and an opera
2024 & 2026	Participation in the competitions of La semaine du son (Flagey, Ixelles)

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.

Nicole De Paepe was born in Antwerp on July 11, 1958. Encouraged by the musical pursuits of her father, who played piano as a hobby, and her grandmother, who was an opera singer, she entered the music academy in Borgerhout at the age of eight, where she studied piano, cello, harmony, and chamber music. In 1974, she earned a distinction for piano at the Gunther Competition in Brussels and in 1977, she was awarded a government medal in Borgerhout. At the age of 14, she took the entrance exam at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, where she studied music theory, harmony, practical harmony, counterpoint, music analysis, music history, and art history. She specialized in piano and chamber music.

Passionate about music and guided by her intuition, she began composing at a young age. This continues to inspire her to this day.
For two years, she worked as a ballet accompanist. At 21, she became a
practical harmony teacher at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in
Antwerp, a position she held for 14 years. She retired to devote more time to raising her three children and to developing her career as a freelance pianist and composer.

As a pianist, she has accompanied various choirs, including
the Antwerp Philharmonic Choir (Philko), the Royal Mixed Choir Alma Musica, and the Don Bosco Choir in Hoboken. She is also regularly invited to accompany choirs such as the Sanseveria women's choir in Duffel, the Edegem Family Choir, and, in the past, our Schola Gregoriana, Camerata Vocale, and Cantabile from Hove, among others. She has also accompanied soloists at various concerts and competitions at home and abroad.

Nicole also plays the organ, and you can hear her perform Bach interpretations as well as her own works. She has also performed in various churches in Antwerp, including those of St. James, Charles Borromeo, Christ the King, Pius X Wilrijk, the Holy Family, and St. Joseph in Hoboken.

From 2002 to the present, Nicole De Paepe has also participated in various (art) projects, such as the Night of Museums, the Summer of Antwerp, the Channel exhibition, the Golden Derailment on July 11, 2002, in Brussels, and the Galerie Utrecht in the Netherlands. She has also collaborated with cultural centers and given various private concerts.

Her music has been featured several times on numerous radio stations,
including Marc Brillouet's Funiculi Funicula. Radio 2 presenter Els Broekmans has also interviewed her several times. Nicole is also actively involved in various concerts and accompaniments, including for German and Dutch television.

She has composed music for Antwerp legends and stories such as Brabo and Antigone, Lange Wapper, and Nello and Patrasche. In this final storytelling recital, she brings the story of A Dog of Flanders to life musically. Nicole sometimes collaborates with Milly Jennes, the driving force behind the puppet theatre Mirantibus, in this recital, acting out the story with her beautiful puppets.

Nicole previously recorded the CD Bagatelle in collaboration with violinist Marcel Andriesii.
She is working on new concerts with hornist Ernest Maes and cellist Viviane Abdelmalek, and new CDs featuring her compositions have been recorded.

Raoul De Smet werd geboren op 27 oktober 1936 in Borgerhout.

Hij studeerde Romaanse filologie en muziekgeschiedenis aan de Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven. Hierna volgde hij een specialisatiejaar als beursstudent in Madrid en Salamanca. Vier jaar was hij werkzaam in Tunesië als lesgever; hij doceerde tot 1996 Spaans aan de Katholieke Vlaamse Hogeschool te Antwerpen.

Zijn muzikale basisopleiding (solfège, harmonie, piano) genoot hij aan de
Muziekacademie van Deurne. Afgezien van deze opleiding was hij als musicus autodidact, tot hij vanaf 1966 compositie ging studeren bij Lucien Goethals en Louis De Meester aan het IPEM te Gent, bij August Verbesselt te Antwerpen en bij Ton de Leeuw te Amsterdam.

Door zelfstudie van theoretische werken (Schönberg, Krenek, Koechlin, Messiaen, e.a.) en van partituren, en door het beluisteren van allerlei genres heeft hij een persoonlijke taal ontwikkeld.

In 1972 nam De Smet deel aan de Ferienkurse für Neue Musik te Darmstadt, waar twee van zijn werken werden uitgevoerd. Hij woonde tevens de Gaudeamus-dagen bij in Bilthoven.

In 1976 nam hij deel aan het American Seminar te Salzburg over Contemporary American Music.

In 1977 vertegenwoordigde hij het IPEM op het Colloquium Musica/Sintesi in het
kader van de Biënnale van Venetië.

Van 1974 tot 1994 organiseerde Raoul De Smet te Antwerpen de Orphische Avonden, concerten voor eigentijdse (vooral Vlaamse) kamermuziek te Antwerpen.

Tussen 1980 en 1984 was hij lid van de Raad van Bestuur van het Centrum voor Muziek te Leuven.

Tussen 1983 en 1993 programmeerde De Smet concerten van eigentijdse kamermuziek in de Foyer van de Stadsschouwburg (Antwerpen).

In 1976, 1985 en 1990 organiseerde hij Elektronische Muziekdagen in het ICC en deSingel.

In 1981 startte hij de E.M.-reeks, een uitgave in facsimile van kamermuziek van Vlaamse componisten.

In 1987 stichtte hij de OrpheusPrijs, een Tweejaarlijks Internationaal Concours voor de interpretatie van eigentijdse kamermuziek.

Sinds 1999 organiseert hij het “Belgian Chocolates” festival.

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.

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.

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.