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

	Banchetto musicale (2007) 20th century Bart Spanhove, Joris Van Goethem, Paul Van Loey, Han Tol, Vier Op 'n Rij - Flanders Recorder Quartet, Piet Swerts, Jan Van Der Roost, Frans Geysen (...)		Piet Swerts - klarinetkwintet en strijkkwartet 2 (2005) 20th century Roeland Hendrikx, Spiegel Strijkkwartet, Piet Swerts, Tempera Quartet
	Piet Swerts - Leven in Steen (2005) 21st century / contemporary Vlaams Radio Orkest, Piet Swerts, Dirk Vermeulen, Vlaams Radiokoor (VRK)		Contemporary Music from Flanders - Composers at the Lemmensinstituut (2005) 20th century Piet Swerts, Dirk De Nef, Jan Hadermann, Kurt Bikkembergs, Hans Vervenne, Ludo Claesen, Peter Pieters, Jan Van Der Roost (...)
	Beyond the dream (2004) 20th century Czech Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Frits Celis, Raymond Schroyens, Piet Swerts, Wilfried Westerlinck, Arthur Meulemans, Edmond Saveniers		Wings- The Wind Music of Piet Swerts (2003) 20th century, 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts
	Identities (2000) 20th century Arco Baleno, Lucien Posman, Frits Celis, Marc Matthys, Wim Henderickx, Piet Swerts, Roland Coryn		Flanders Language Valley S.AI.L-ing (1999) 20th century Harmonieorkest Zillebeke, Piet Swerts, Nico Logghe
	Piet Swerts speelt Piet Swerts (1997) 20th century, 21st century / contemporary Piet Swerts, Pianoduo Kolacny, Piet Swerts		Ceciliade (1997) 20th century Jan Van Der Roost, Piet Swerts, Bert Appermont, Ben Haemhouts

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