Composer and researcher who wants to professionalize
and internationalize the musical landscape of Flanders with boundless energy. His works range from solo and chamber music to orchestral pieces, including film scores, ballets, theatre pieces and multimedia.

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. In 1993 he attended masterclasses with Michael Finnissy and five years later with Brian Ferneyhough. From 1990 to 1997 he taught cello in a number of music schools and since 1992 he has also taught analysis at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. From 1997 he has held a position in the musicology department of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in connection with the ear-training computer program, UniSono, and with the New Music Documentation Centre MATRIX. In addition, Swinnen has worked as a freelancer for the VRT (Flemish Radio) and is regularly called upon to provide live electronics and recording engineering for various ensembles. Peter Swinnen won the CERA Prize of Youth and Music Flanders for his complete oeuvre in 1991, and his opera The Petrifying Blue received the 1992 Provincial Prize for Musical Composition from the Province of Antwerp. He also wrote the music for the Belgian Television film Andres, a Dirk Greyspeirt production with choreography by José Besprosvany, which won the Premio Choreografo Elettronico 1993 and two years later the 34th Bert Leysen Prize. For his work, Quar’l, Peter Swinnen earned the 1997 Prix de Musique Contemporaine of Québec. He has twice won the National Composition Competition of the Queen Elisabeth Competition: in 1997 with Canzone and in 2001 with Ciaccona.