Kristiaan Van Ingelgem was born in Sint-Gillis (Dendermonde) on 9 June 1944. His talent for the keyboard, nurtured at home and developed at school by Rev. Marcel Weemaes, led to post-secondary studies in music at the Lemmens Institue in Mechelen and Leuven. There he won the Lemmens-Tinel prize for organ under Kamiel D’Hooghe in 1969. In 1972 he earned a diploma as Performing Musician in Organ and Improvisation at the Maastricht Conservatory. In 2004 he graduated from the Jef Denyn Royal Carillon School in Mechelen as a certified carilloneur. Since 1999 he has been the city carilloneur of Aalst, a position he had previously held from 1972 to 1977. His experience with the carillon started with studies at the Mechelen carillon school, where he taught practical harmony from 1969 to 1974. He now teaches that subject, as well as an improvisation course (organ and piano) at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp. He is also the organist at St Martin’s Church in Aalst

Kristiaan Van Ingelgem plays both as a soloist and in ensembles. Flemish and French composers hold a prominent place in his repertoire, and as an organist he is known as a talented improviser. His collaborations with ensembles, orchestras and choirs, often made up of young musicians (including Cantate Domino Aalst, Camerata Aetas Nova Leuven and De tweede adem, conducted by his son Maarten), have kept him abreast of the latest tendencies in music-making. His instrumental, orchestral and especially vocal work is often the result of a specific invitation from the music world or a commission by an organisation.

Van Ingelgem’s feel for today’s concert world is kept active by the stimulating proximity of his talented family. He has passed on his love of music, which he says he inherited from his father, to his own children Maarten (piano, organ and choir), Pieter (piano and organ) and Tineke (solo song, flute, piano and organ). The family frequently plays together in various formations, often the occasion for specific compositions.