Wilfried Westerlinck (b. 1945)

Wilfried Westerlinck studied at two conservatories, respectively in Brussels and Antwerp. He made his career at the Belgian radio as a producer and taught at the same time music analyses at the Antwerp Conservatory. As a composer he received several prizes for his orchestral and his chamber music works. In 1985, he received the Eugène Baie Award for the artistic value of his music. He accepted an invitation in 1983 for the 4th International Brass Quintet Festival in Baltimore (USA), and the 'I Fiamminghi in Campo Festival' in 1995 in Antwerp, was entirely devoted to his music. In 2004 and 05, he taught at the Music Academies of Gdansk and Riga, and gave lectures on Flemish contemporary music. In March 2006, he was invited by Baylor University in Texas as a guest professor for composition. Between 2004 and 2008, he was a frequent guest at the Colony of Arts 'Fundación Knecht-Drenthe' in Spain. In Amsterdam he was awarded the 2015 Visser-Neerlandia Prize. His compositions often emanate personal experiences and visual impressions. The poetic power of Westerlinck's work comes from processing and repetition - harmonic as linear - from small basic musical ideas.