Flanders Music Centre is now Kunstenpunt / Flanders Arts Institute.

Piet Swerts

Piet Swerts was born in Tongeren in 1960. He studied from 1974 to 1989 at the Lemmens Institute in Leuven, where he earned ten first prizes and studied piano with Robert Groslot and Alan Weiss. He was the first recipient from the Lemmens Institute of the Lemmens Tinel prize for composition and piano magna cum laude. Piet Swerts now teaches piano, analysis and composition at the same institute, positions he has held since 1982. In 1985 he became the conductor of the Ensemble for New Music at the school. As a composer, Swerts has won numerous prizes, including the Camille Huysmans Composition Prize in 1986 for his work Droombeelden (Dream images) and, in that same year, the Composition Prize of the Province of Limburg for his Capriccio for guitar and chamber orchestra. He received the Baron Flor Peeters Prize for his Apocalyps I for organ in 1983 and in 1985 he was awarded the prize for Belgian Artistic Promotion for his song Ardennes for soprano and piano. He won the SABAM Prize for his Rotations for piano and orchestra, the work that was chosen as the compulsory concerto for the final round of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition in 1987. The newspaper De Gazet van Antwerpen awarded him its prize for his Symphony no. 1 in 1989. In 1993 a choral work earned him the Composition Prize of the Province of Brabant, while in 1993 his violin concerto Zodiac was selected as the compulsory work for the finals of the International Queen Elisabeth Competition (with a jury that included Górecki). An important moment in his career was the premiere of his large-scale opera Les liaisons dangereuses in 1996 at the Flemish opera.

Selective bibliography
- Y. KNOCKAERT, art. Piet Swerts, in Nieuwe Muziek in Vlaanderen, uitg. dr. M. DELAERE, Y. KNOCKAERT en H. SABBE, Brugge, 1998, p.127-130
- Y. KNOCKAERT, Piet Swerts' Marcuspassie, in Musea van Vlaams-Brabant (tweemaandelijks tijdschrift), 44, 1, 1995, p. 49-51
- B. VAN CLEEMPUT, De tijdloosheid van een passie, in Muziek en Woord, 20, 4, 1994, p. 9
- F. VERDONK, Piet Swerts: elke noot op de juiste plaats, in Muziek en Woord, 19, 6, 1993, p. 4
- P. SWERTS, Het Vlaams muzieklandschap : een containerpark van cultuur?, art. in Muziek en Woord, augustus 2002
- P. SWERTS, Geest en gevoel : (mijn) muziek? Een pleidooi voor een antimaterialistische klankwereld, art. in Contra., november 2003

Selective discography

	Insightyourinside - 24 Straight Strung Piano Sonatas (2019) 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts, Piet Swerts		Piet Swerts speelt Piet Swerts (1997) 20th century, 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts, Pianoduo Kolacny, Piet Swerts
	Piet Swerts (1994) 20th century Lucienne Van Deyck, Jan Caals, Chris De Moor, Piet Swerts, Edmond Saveniers, Kurt Bikkembergs, Piet Swerts

Selectieve discografie als componist

	Virtuoso music for solo cello in Belgium (2022) 20th century, 21st century / contemporary, romanticism Herwig Coryn, Dirk Brossé, Roland Coryn, André Laporte, Lucien Posman, Rudi Tas, Piet Swerts, Luc Van Hove (...)		Le Bestiaire (2020) 21st century / contemporary, romanticism Roeland Hendrikx Ensemble, Piet Swerts, Camille Saint-Saëns
	Essence (2019) classical Kugoni Trio, Piet Swerts, Wim Henderickx, Jeroen D'hoe, Pieter Schuermans, Mathias Coppens		Insightyourinside - 24 Straight Strung Piano Sonatas (2019) 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts, Piet Swerts
	Hidden Facts (2018) 21st century / contemporary Focus Wind Quintet, Robert Groslot, Erik Desimpelaere, Piet Swerts, Bram Van Camp, Jan Huylebroeck		Piet Swerts - A symphony of trees (2017) 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts, David Angus, Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen
	Piet Swerts - Clarinet Quintet, 2nd String Quartet (2017) 20th century Roeland Hendrikx, Spiegel Strijkkwartet, Piet Swerts, Tempera Quartet		Piet Swerts - Seeker (2016) classical Russell Hirshfield, Piet Swerts
	Concerti (2014) Baroque, 21st century / contemporary Vier Op 'n Rij - Flanders Recorder Quartet, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, Johann David Heinichen, Henry Purcell, Piet Swerts		De innigheid der dingen (2014) 20th century René Geldof, Inge Feyen, Kurt Bikkembergs, Jos Venken, Piet Swerts, Martin Slootmaekers, Paul Steegmans

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