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

	Contemporary String Quartets (1996) 20th century Jenny Spanoghe, Gaggini strijkkwartet, Elias Gistelinck, Piet Swerts, Wilfried Westerlinck, Victor Legley		Flemish Contemporary Recorder Music I (1995) 21st century / contemporary, 20th century Paul Van Loey, Bart Spanhove, Joris Van Goethem, Geert Van Gele, Vier Op 'n Rij - Flanders Recorder Quartet, Frans Geysen, Piet Swerts, Jan Van Landeghem (...)
	Centennial - Piet Swerts (1994) 21st century / contemporary, 20th century Koninklijke Muziekkapel van de Gidsen, Piet Swerts, François De Ridder		Piet Swerts (1994) 20th century Lucienne Van Deyck, Jan Caals, Chris De Moor, Piet Swerts, Edmond Saveniers, Kurt Bikkembergs, Piet Swerts
	Harmonie nouvelles en 12 mouvements pour l'Europe (1994) 20th century Quatuor Arte del Suono, Gerhard Sporken, Peter Cabus, Daniël Capelletti, Victor Legley, Jean-Marie Simonis, Jan Van Der Roost, Paul-Bauduin Michel (...)		Europese Kerstliederen uit Oost en West (1991) classical Martin Valcke, Vocale en Instrumentale Ensembles Lemmensinstituut, Kurt Bikkembergs, Paul Steegmans, Geert Van Der Straeten, Jan Van Der Roost, Piet Swerts, Wim Henderickx (...)
	van Beethoven Ludwig - Piet Swerts (1987) 21st century / contemporary, 20th century, classicism Ikuyo Nakamichi, Nationaal Orkest van België, Piet Swerts, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Georges-Elie Octors		Piet Swerts - Magma (2000) 20th century, 21st century / contemporary Lucienne Van Deyck, Stefan Geyer, Jan Caals, Chris De Moor, Symfonisch Orkest van Het Lemmensinstituut, I Fiamminghi, Piet Swerts
	Het Harmonieorkest van het Lemmensinstituut 20th century, 21st century / contemporary Het Harmonieorkest van het Lemmensinstituut, Piet Swerts, Rik Ghesquière, Charles Verbiest, Rik Ghesquière

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