Frank Agsteribbe was born in Ghent in 1968. He studied organ in Antwerp starting in 1986 with Stanislas Deriemaeker and Joris Verdin, and harpsichord with Jos van Immerseel. He subsequently pursued advanced studies with Gustav Leonhardt, Davitt Moroney and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini.

Bernard Baert was born on 4 October 1963 in Waregem. He grew up in a musical family – his father was director of the Waregem music academy, where Bernard pursued his first musical studies. At the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where he studied with Louis Pas and Claude Coppens (piano) and Roland Coryn (composition), he was awarded first prizes for solfège, piano, music history, theoretical and practical harmony, chamber music, counterpoint, fugue and composition. He also received a higher diploma and teaching certificate for piano.

Paul Beelaerts, born in Oostende on 19 July 1949, studied at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels, where he earned first prizes in solfège, music history and English horn, as well as higher diplomas for oboe and chamber music. He then took master classes with Heinz Holliger and Maurice Bourge, as well as extra studies in Baroque oboe under Paul Dombrecht and Helmut Hucke. He was first prize winner and was awarded the Europa Prize in the Pro Civitate Competition in 1971 and in 1973 he was a prize winner in the Tenuto 73 competition for oboe.

Janpieter Biesemans was born on 16 November 1939 in Vilvoorde. He studied at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven and the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp.
His teachers included Marinus De Jong, Jef Schampaert, August Verbesselt, Marcel Slootmaeckers, Lode Dieltiens, Jos Van Looy, Jacqueline Fonteyn, Jan Decadt and Flor Peeters. In 1964, he founded the ensemble Consortium Antiquum and devoted the next 23 years to the interpretation of early music. Since 1980 he has concentrated on composition. At present he has some one hundred opus numbers to his name.

Kurt Bikkembergs was born on 5 August 1963 in Hasselt, and took his first steps in the music world in the early 1970s. He studied solfège, piano, harmony and trumpet at the conservatory in Hasselt. In 1978 he continued his secondary school education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where his interest in composition grew. At this same school, Bikkembergs specialised in music education, composition (with Luc Van Hove), choral conducting (with Erik Van Nevel) and orchestral conducting (with Edmond Saveniers). In 1990 he earned his higher diploma in choral conducting (cum laude).

Yves Bondue, born in Ieper, is a kindergarten teacher by training and completely self-taught as a composer. He is also an actor and a presenter. He combines music and teaching in his collections of songs and his stories for children, although these works do not represent the largest part of his activities as a composer. Bondue is active in practically all musical genres, from vocal music, chamber music and piano works, to theatre music, opera (Gemeenschap, 1998, on a libretto by Wim Dewulf, based on Franz Kafka) and musical (one work, 2003).

Conductor and composer Filip Bral was born on 22 January 1966 in Kortrijk. He undertook his professional studies at the Lemmens Institute, where he earned diplomas for horn, fugue and orchestral conducting with, respectively, Piet Dombrecht, Christian Vereecke and Edmond Saveniers. He also took lessons with composer Luc Van Hove. Bral pursued advanced studies in conducting at the Musikhochschule in Vienna with the renowned orchestral conductors Karl Österreicher and Leopold Hager. In 1993-94 he was a postgraduate conductor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

Dirk Brossé was born in Ghent and studied trumpet, contrabass and music theory at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, and thereafter counterpoint and fugue at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. He studied orchestral conducting with Lucas Vis and Anton Kersjes in Maastricht and with Prof. Julius Kalmar in Vienna. He received his diploma in conducting from the Musikhochschule in Cologne with Prof. Volker Wangenheim and in 1990 he was a finalist in Iwaki’s International Masterclass in Hilversum (Holland). Brossé is frequently on the concert stage conducting all the major Belgian orchestras.

Erika Budai was born in Tienen on 12 August 1966. She studied piano at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven with Levente Kende and earned a first prize in solfège.
From 1990 she studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where she received a first prize in harmony, a diploma in music education, solfège and music history, and a diploma for electronic and film music (with W.C. Rothe). She completed her education as a composer at the Lemmens Institute, studying counterpoint and fugue with Ludo Claesen and composition with Piet Swerts.
 A grant awarded by the A.

Jean-Paul Byloo was born on 8 April 1949 in Veurne. After attending secondary school in that city, he went on to study music at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where he earned first prizes in solfège (with Gaston Van Damme), piano (with Abel Matthys), harmony (with Jeanne Vignery), counterpoint (with Roland Coryn) and fugue (with Gery Bruneel). Byloo studied choral conducting at the Kurt Thomas Society in The Hague, and modern compositional techniques with Lucien Goethals.

Frits Celis was born in 1929 in Antwerp. He studied at the Royal Conservatories of Antwerp and Brussels, where he earned final diplomas in solfège, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, music history, harp and orchestral conducting. He then undertook further studies in conducting at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Cologne.
In 1946 he began his musical career as a harpist in the orchestra of the former Royal Flemish Opera in Antwerp, a position that he held until 1954.

Jan Coeck, born on 20 November 1950 in Wilrijk, took his first steps in music with Jos Bruurs (piano). In 1968 he started his studies in music education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where he has taught since 1973. He has taken courses with Jos Wuytack, Paul Schollaert, Ignace de Sutter and Stan van Vaerenbergh. He has given a number of guest courses, including courses at the “Musikene” Centre in San Sebastián and at the University of Cádiz.

Roland Coryn, born on 21 December 1938 in Kortrijk, came into contact early with the artistic world. His brother sketched and painted, and his family maintained links with artistic circles. After his musical studies at the Municipal Music Academy in Harelbeke, he pursued further studies at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent. There he earned his Higher Diploma in viola and chamber music, while continuing to study in the theory department and subsequently receiving his First Prize in composition.
As a teacher he held positions at the music academies of Harelbeke, Izegem and Oostende.

Paul Craenen was born in Leuven on 25 February 1972. From 1982 he took piano lessons with Erna Verbist, first in the youth music school in Sterrebeek, and later at the music academy in Londerzeel. At the latter he graduated in piano magna cum laude. He went on to study piano at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven with Mark Erkens and Frans Van Beveren, and graduated with a final diploma in piano cum laude in 1995. This subject of his final year’s major essay was “The mental processing of information during the musical learning process”.

Frederic D’haene, born in Kortrijk in 1961, began his musical education at the music academies of Ghent and Kortrijk. With his sights on a professional music career, he then studied at the Royal Conservatory in Liège, where he was in the classes of Frederic Rzewski and Walter Zimmerman. There he also took lessons from Henri Pousseur and Vinko Globokar. In order to further develop the theoretical aspect of his musical studies, D’haene decided to enter the university programme of musicology, which he started at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and completed at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent.

Jeroen D’hoe was born in Leuven on 25 June 1968. He studied musicology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, where he graduated in 1992 (magna cum laude). From 1994 to 1998 he taught harmony there, and from 1992 to 1996 he was an academic assistant there in connection with the ABB chair for new music, the Karel Goeyvaerts research project and the development of the UniSono ear-training computer program.
At the Lemmens Institute, also in Leuven, he earned first prizes in solfège (1988), harmony (1989), practical harmony (1991), counterpoint (1991) and fugue (1993).

Kris De Baerdemacker, born in 1972 in Ghent, began his musical education at the Academy for Music, Word and Dance in Aalter, where he studied piano, cello, organ and music history. After his studies as a translator-interpreter, he studied composition at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent in the class of Godfried-Willem Raes. He concentrated on experimental music in which the relation between the composer and the performer is called into question and in which the concept of electro-acoustic audio-landscapes takes a central place.

George De Decker was born on 31 August 1951 in Asse. He started piano lessons at the age of seven, later going on to study at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, where he earned first prizes in solfège (1971), piano (1975) and harmony (1977) and a diploma in art history (1975). De Decker studied composition with Willem Kersters in Antwerp and with André Laporte in Brussels. From 1975 to 1980 he composed a number of works for at IPEM (the Institute for Psycho-acoustics and Electronic Music) in Ghent, under the direction of Lucien Goethals.

Joris de Laet was born in 1947 in Antwerp. Apart from some years of music lessons at the music academy (in violin and cello), he did not receive any formal artistic training.
De Laet was largely self-taught, and was mainly interested in the thought-processes of the avant-garde. In particular, the possibilities of amplified sound intrigued him, an interest that even led him to build or adapt his own instruments. In order to increase public awareness of the music of the avant-garde, de Laet set up the Studio voor Experimentele Muziek (SEM) in 1973.

Louis August Edmond Hendrik De Meester was born on 18 October 1904 in a Francophone, liberal family in Roeselare. From a young age he took lessons in violin and piano, as well as solfège, although he would never receive a traditional musical education. From 1923, the composer started to earn his living by playing in cafés. He also played music for silent films and for balls and parties; this would form the basis of his later interest in functional music and music for film, plays and ballet.

Dirk De Nef was born in 1957 in Ghent. As a boy he sang in a choir and played guitar.
It was only at the age of fifteen that he took an adult course in solfège at the Municipal Conservatory in Mechelen. He earned first prizes in solfège, harmony, choral conducting and music history at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. At the Royal Conservatory in Brussels he received first prizes in counterpoint and fugue with Rafaël D’Haene, composition with André Laporte and advanced music analysis with Frans Geysen.

Kristin De Smedt was born in Asse on 12 October 1959. After initial studies at the academy in Asse, she completed her musical education at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. She began her studies there by combining an instrument (violin) with theoretical subjects, but subsequently concentrated completely on the written disciplines: harmony with Peter Cabus and counterpoint and fugue with Rafaël D’Haene.

Raoul De Smet was born on 27 October 1936 in Borgerhout. He studied the philology of Romance languages and music history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. After this he took a year of specialisation on a study grant in Madrid and Salamanca. He then worked as a teacher for four years in Tunisia, after which he taught Spanish at the Katholieke Vlaamse Hogeschool in Antwerp. His gained his basic musical training (solfège, harmony, piano) at the Music Academy in Deurne.

Kris Defoort was born in 1959 in Bruges. He grew up in a musical family and entered the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp in 1978, studying early music and recorder there with, among others, Koen Dieltiens, Balderick Deerenberg and Jos van Immerseel. In 1982, Defoort moved to the Royal Conservatory in Liège to study contemporary music and jazz with Henri Pousseur, Frederic Rzewsky, Garret List, Dennis Luxion, Borah Bergman and Philippe Boesmans. Here he developed into an inventive jazz pianist and composer.

Hanne Deneire, born in Hasselt on 23 June 1980, studied composition with Wim Henderickx and Luc Van Hove from 1998 to 2003 at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, where she also studied bass clarinet and piano. While still a student she won a number of prizes. Mitä, her first orchestral work, was awarded a prize in the 1999 Aquarius Composition Competition. This work was premiered by the Beethoven Academie, conducted by Jan Caeyers. In 2000 she received a bursary from the Antwerp Conservatory Society.

Johan Duijck was born in Brugge on 23 November 1954. He studied at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels, earning a number of first prizes, including piano (Robert Steyaert) and composition (Peter Cabus), and the Higher Diploma for piano and chamber music. He went on to study at the Muziekkapel Koningin Elisabeth and rounded off his studies with Stanislas Neuhaus (Moskow) and choral conducting with László Heltay (London). Throughout his career, Duijck has won numerous prizes.

Frans Geysen was born on 29 July 1936 in Oostham (in the province of Limburg). He studied organ and music education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven until 1960, at which time he furthered his studies in music history with J.L. Broeckx and fugue with J. Mestdagh at the conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp respectively. He taught harmony and advanced music analysis at the Lemmens Institute from 1962 to 1999 and at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels from 1975 to 1997.

Norbert Goddaer was born on 26 January 1933 in Kortrijk. Besides his diploma in General Music Education (first grade), he earned 8 first prizes at the Royal Music Conservatory in Ghent (in solfège, transposition, clarinet, saxophone, chamber music, harmony, counterpoint and fugue). Goddaer studied composition with Jan De Cadt. In the 1950s he was a member of the “Hot Club van België”, a jazz club which won first prize in the Modern Jazz section at the 1955 International Jazz Competition, an event which the group organised. Goddaer is still known as a fervent jazz fan.

Karel Goeyvaerts was born on 8 June 1923 in Antwerp, and died there on 3 February 1993. From 1943 to 1947 he studied piano, harmony, counterpoint, fugue, composition and music history at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, and went on to study at the National Conservatory in Paris, where he pursued studies in composition under Darius Milhaud and analysis with Olivier Messiaen, and where he mastered the “Ondes Martenot” with the inventor of this instrument, Maurice Martenot. It was particularly Messiaen who left a great impression on the young Goeyvaerts.

Jan Hadermann was born in Reet on 12 March 1952. As a composer he is best known in the world of brass bands and wind orchestras.
His father, both a music-lover and a competent musician (as conductor, composer and violinist), was his first mentor. This first musical education within his family circle was continued at the Music Academy in Hemiksem with Marcel Slootmakers and the well-known piano teacher Liliane Esser Herchuelz. Hadermann pursued his professional training at the Lemmens Institute, first in Mechelen and subsequently in Leuven.

Ludo Hulshagen was born on 2 June 1951 in Hasselt. He studied Latin and Greek at the Amandina College in Herk-de-Stad. In 1969 he began his post-secondary music studies at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. There he earned first prizes in solfège, written harmony, practical harmony, counterpoint, fugue, music analysis and the study of form. He studied composition with Willem Kersters, under whom he graduated in 1984.
From 1971, besides his studies, Hulshagen began to teach solfège at the Tienen Music Academy.

Jan Huylebroeck, alias Michael Tildis, was born in Oostende on 7 September 1956. He began his professional career in 1975. Besides being a composer, Huylebroeck is a pianist, percussionist (timpanist), organist and conductor-arranger. He also plays an array of other instruments including bass tuba, ophicleide, serpent and trombone.

Jan Huylebroeck studied at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent where he earned a total of 6 final diplomas. He began his career as a piano teacher and accompanist at the municipal conservatories of Ghent and Bruges.

Yves Knockaert was born on 11 April 1954 in Bruges. He studied Art History and Archeology with an option in Musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent, graduating in 1976 after writing a licenciate thesis on Aspects of Contemporary Vocal Music in Works by Berio, Kagel and Nono. In parallel with his studies in Musicology he studied solfège and harmony at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where he earned first prizes in 1972, and 1978. In 1980, Knockaert earned a second prize in counterpoint at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.

Dominique Lawalrée, born in Brussels on 18 November 1954, studied music education at the IMEP (Institut Supérieur de Musique et de Pédagogie) in Namur. He is self-taught as a composer and has never taken part in competitions or festivals. He has established a name mainly through the 20 CDs he has made, his private concerts and his extensive oeuvre (ca. 450 works), performances of which he has given in Belgium, France, Switzerland, England, Spain and the United States. In his private concerts he plays various sorts of synthesizers and digital pianos for a very limited audience.

Geert Logghe was born in 1962. He studied from 1980 to 1990 at the Royal Music Conservatories of Brussels and Ghent. Besides studies in harmony, counterpoint, fugue, chamber music and music history, he studied piano with Claude Coppens, composition with Roland Corijn and experimental and electronic music with Godfried-Willem Raes and Jan Rispens. Logghe’s studies with Coppens not only had an impact on his pianistic qualities, but also on the development of his musical identity as a composer.

Wim Mertens was born in Neerpelt in 1953. He took guitar and piano lessons, but did not complete his studies at the music academy. Mertens studied political and social sciences at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and musicology at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent. At the university in Leuven he produced a major paper examining the avant-garde of the 1950s and 1960s from a sociological perspective. His major paper at the university in Ghent dealt with the non-narrative and a-teleological aspects of the American minimalist composers.

Stefan Meylaers was born in Neerpelt on 1 December 1970. He studied piano at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, graduating with a Specialist Diploma in piano (magna cum laude) and the “Meestergraad” diploma in piano and chamber music (also magna cum laude). He then went on to advanced studies in a number of different musical disciplines. He studied chamber music with Guido De Neve and composition with György Ligeti. In 1996 he worked as a pianist at the opera studio of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels.

Frank Nuyts was born on 3 February 1957 in Ostend. He received his musical education at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where he earned higher diplomas in percussion and chamber music. After submitting several compositions written during his studies, Nuyts was invited by the composer Lucien Goethals to study composition and analysis of 20th-centruy music. The study of Goethals' own music, together with that of Webern and other modernists had a particularly profound influence on Nuyts. The first official compositions produced in this period were thus composed in a post-serial idiom.

After basic studies in piano, violin and viola, Kris Oelbrandt graduated from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels in composition with Rafaël D’Haene. Over a number of years of orientation he began university studies in musicology (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), then mathematics and computer science (RUCA, University of Antwerp), as well as piano with Jan Michiels, finally studying composition with Luc Van Hove. In 2001 he graduated in composition (cum laude) from the Muziekkapel Koningin Elisabeth.

Dominique Pauwels studied piano at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent from 1985 to 1989, subsequently continuing his studies (from 1991) in Berklee Boston (Massachusetts), where he graduated with a diploma magna cum laude for both composition and film composition. In the following years he turned to computer technologies and software for compositions. He then entered the program of Algorithmic Composition and Composition with MAX (software developed at IRCAM) at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam (1991-1992).

Willem Pelemans (born 6 or 8 April 1901 in Antwerp) was for the most part self-taught as a musician. Starting from the age of 18 he did receive some private instruction in orchestration, counterpoint and harmony from his former music teacher at teacher’s college, Paul Lagye, but his musical education was for the rest informal. Nevertheless, he enjoyed a richly filled career in the music world.
He began with a long stint teaching at the Brussels teachers’ college.

Lucien Posman was born on 22 March 1952 in Eeklo. He completed his higher music studies at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Antwerp. In Ghent he earned first prizes in solfège, harmony, music history and composition (under Roland Coryn), as well as a teaching certificate for solfège (first and second cycle). In Antwerp he received a first prize for fugue and counterpoint in the class of Nini Bulterys. He also studied music analysis, piano and voice.
Posman works at the Hogeschool Gent as president of the educational board and as teacher composition and teacher training theory.

Herman Roelstraete was born in 1925 in Lauwe. In 1939 he attended the verger’s school in Torhout, where he acquired a love for Gregorian Chant, organ, and the “Flemish Question”, three subjects that would often find their expression in his music. In 1942 he began his studies at the Lemmens Institute with Henri Durieux (harmony), Marinus de Jong (piano and counterpoint), Flor Peeters (organ) and Jules Van Nuffel (choral conducting and aesthetics of music).

Raymond Schroyens was born in Mechelen on 14 March 1933. As a 9 year-old choirboy in the famous St Rombaut’s Cathedral choir he came into contact with Jules Van Nuffel and Flor Peeters. In 1950 he entered the Lemmens Institute, then still located in Mechelen, studying with Staf Nees, Marinus de Jong and Jules Van Nuffel. After his military service he studied organ with Flor Peeters from 1954 at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp.

Eric Sleichim was born in Antwerp on 18 November 1958. He was self-taught as a saxophonist and a composer. At the beginning of the 1980s he played in numerous groups, such as Allez Allez, Lavvi Ebel, Simpletones and Soft Verdict. In 1984, Sleichim co-founded Maximalist! together with Thierry De Mey, Peter Vermeersch and Walter Hus. Maximalist! came into being a year after the musician-composers had met during Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's first dance production, Rosas danst Rosas.
The image of the group was anything but classical: their music was a mix of rock, jazz and classical music.

Thomas Smetryns was born in Ghent on 13 December 1977. He studied composition with Godfried-Willem Raes, and guitar, lute and theorbo with Ida Polck and Philippe Malfeyt at the Ghent Conservatory. As a composer he is very interested in the search for a new, experimental musical practice that remains anchored in an historical and/or social (sub)consciousness. He shares this interest with the Americans Brent Wetters and Jonathon Kirk; together, they form the composers’ collective “Medusa”.

Paul Steegmans was born on 3 July 1957 in Hasselt. In 1980 he earned a diploma in piano and music education at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, and went on to receive a first prize in fugue in 1985. From 1981 he took advance courses in piano with André de Groote (Brussels), Jacques de Tiège (Antwerp) and Jean Franssen (Maastricht). He later studied with Willem Kersters at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, earning his first prize in composition there in 1993.

Peter Agnes August Swinnen was born on 31 January 1965 in Lier. From 1983 to 1992 he studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he earned first prizes in music history, cello, chamber music, composition and practical harmony. He also graduated from the Queen Elisabeth Muziekkapel in Waterloo, after studies with André Laporte from 1989 to 1992.

Martin Valcke was born in 1963 in Poperinge. He received his first music lessons from his father and went on to study solfège, cello and chamber music at the Municipal Music Academy in Ieper and the Municipal Conservatory in Bruges. He subsequently attended the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where he graduated with a diploma (Laureaat) in cello and also earned first prizes in solfège, harmony, cello, practical harmony, counterpoint and fugue. He studied composition with Luc Van Hove and received his Master in Music diploma in 1996 magna cum laude, with a specialisation in composition.

Werner Van Cleemput was born on 14 July 1930 in Sint-Niklaas. He studied at the music academy in his native city (among his teachers was Albert Delvaux) and at the Halewijn Society in Antwerp (music education and music for young people). Although took private lessons in theoretical subjects from a number of conservatory teachers, including Nini Bulterys, and studied composition with Karel Goeyvaerts at the Institute for Psycho-Acoustics and Electronic Music (IPEM) in Ghent, Van Cleemput is mainly self taught as a composer.

Jan Van der Roost was born on 1 March 1956 in Duffel. By listening to dozens of records and tapes in the family home he came into contact with many genres, including music for wind instruments. After his secondary school studies at St Gummarus College in Lier, he went on to study in the Conservatory and Music Education departments at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, earning three degrees.

Renier Van der Velden was born in Borgerhout on 14 January 1910. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp from the age of fourteen but was unable to complete his formal music studies, partly because of his military service. He subsequently received private lessons from J. Jongen and K. Candael. Van der Velden was thus for the most part a self-taught musician. From 1945, he worked for the BRT (Belgian Radio and Television) in Antwerp, where he ensured that new Flemish music was given an important place in his programmes.

Stefan Van Eycken studied musicology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and also took summer courses in English literature at the University of Edinburgh and composition in Avignon (with Marco Stroppa). In 1997 he returned to the Musicology Department in Edinburgh to begin on a doctorate on the work of Brian Ferneyhough. There he also taught analysis and aesthetics of contemporary music. In October 2000 he moved to Tokyo for a year on a Japan Foundation Fellowship in order to work as a researcher at the Kunitachi College of Music on a book devoted to the music of Yuji Takahashi.

Dirk van Gorp was born on 23 October 1953 in Antwerp. He is first and foremost a enthusiastic and dynamic musician. From the age of 7 he played piano, but after several wild years as a rock and roll musician with his pop group Shub Niggurath he ultimately settled on the double bass. From 1977 to 1979 he studied double bass, harmony and orchestral and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. As a double bass player he feels at home in all musical genres, styles and schools.

Luc Van Hove (Wilrijk, 3 February 1957) studied at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, where he earned his first prize in solfege, piano, chamber music, music history, counterpoint, fugue and composition, as well as diplomas in transposition, music analysis and musical form. He received instruction in composition from Willem Kersters. He subsequently pursued advanced studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and at the University of Surrey (Guildford, U.K.).

Jan Van Landeghem was born in Temse in 1954. He began his musical studies at the City Music Academy of Sint-Niklaas. He subsequently attended the conservatories of Brussels and Maastricht, earning first prizes in composition (magna cum laude) under Peter Cabus and André Laporte in Brussels and a solo diploma in organ under Kamiel D'hooghe in Maastricht. He attended courses in improvisation, organ, composition, and choral and orchestral conduction in France (with Iannis Xenakis, among others), Germany and the Netherlands.

Stefan Van Puymbroeck was born in Ekeren on 17 July 1970. He studied piano with Levente Kende and composition with Willem Kersters and Luc Van Hove at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, where he earned a “Master in Music” diploma, as well as first prizes in solfège and music history. He took masterclasses in piano with Jean Brouwers in Brussels.
His activities as a composer bore fruit while he was still studying. His first orchestral work, November (1995), a composition for flute and piano, was premiered at deSingel in Antwerp.

Stephane Vande Ginste, born in Kisangani (Congo) on 7 January 1971, took the Latin-Greek secondary programme at St Amands’ College and St Joseph’s Institute in Kortrijk. From 1979 to 1990, he studied at the municipal conservatory in Kortrijk, graduating with a final diploma and the "regeringsmedaille" in piano, as well as final diplomas in chamber music and written harmony. After this he studied piano, harmony, counterpoint and composition (with André Laporte) at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he earned a number of first prizes, including piano and composition.

Stefaan Vanheertum was born on 23 October 1956 in Ghent. From a young age he sang in various choirs, including the Schola Cantorum in Ghent and Rundadinella (conducted by Florian Heyerick). At present he is connected to the choir Vivente Voce (conducted by Philippe Benoit). Vanheertum studied alto recorder, piano and alto saxophone, and took lessons in harmony, music theory and music history at the music academy in Gentbrugge. After secondary school he studied chemistry at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent, graduating with a doctorate in sciences from that university in December 1982.

Marc Verhaegen was born in Antwerp in 1943. He studied at the Royal Conservatories of Brussels and Antwerp, earning numerous first prizes, including piano (with Eduardo del Pueyo and Frédéric Gevers), harmony (André Souris and Emmanuel Geeurickx), chamber music (Jef Maes) and counterpoint (Nini Bulterijs). Verhaegen graduated with diplomas in fugue and composition from the successful composition class of Willem Kersters.

Hans Vermeulen was born on 21 december 1961 in Torhout. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he earned first prizes in solfège (1980), written harmony (1981), music history (1983), counterpoint (1983) and fugue (1984). He also won the Lunssens Prize for harmony and the Koenigsberg Prize for music history.
He completed his piano studies with A. De Groote. In 1989, as a student of Rafaël D’Haene, he graduated with a diploma from the Muziekkapel Koningin Elisabeth for composition (magna cum laude). In that same year he also won the Cera Youth and Music Prize.

Serge Verstockt was born in 1957 in Braschaat. He was familiar from an early age with the artistic world as both his parents were visual artists. His father, Mark Verstockt, was known as a pioneer in a contemporary form of contructivism. Serge Verstockt was quickly drawn to artistic endeavours. In this he did not follow his parents into the visual arts, but instead chose music. After an initial period of experimentation, during which he was largely self-taught, he received his first music lessons on the organ. At the age fifteen he attended music school for piano lessons.

Peter Welffens was born in Antwerp on 7 May 1924, the son of a father originally from Hanover.
Because his father was a professional musician, he was familiar with the music world from a young age. He studied first at St John Berchmans College in his native city. This institute had links with the famous Antwerp Cathedral choir, which was led at the time by Canon Striels. The young Welffens became a member of the choir and the experience that he gained there was decisive in his eventual decision to become a professional musician.