Willem Pelemans (born 6 or 8 April 1901 in Antwerp) was for the most part self-taught as a musician. Starting from the age of 18 he did receive some private instruction in orchestration, counterpoint and harmony from his former music teacher at teacher’s college, Paul Lagye, but his musical education was for the rest informal. Nevertheless, he enjoyed a richly filled career in the music world. He began with a long stint teaching at the Brussels teachers’ college. At the end of the 1940s he took a job as a teacher of music history at the Municipal Music Conservatory of Mechelen, and in 1967 he was even named assistant chairperson of the Dutch-language section of the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, then in full expansion. His broader role in the (Flemish and Brussels) cultural and musical world in fact began much earlier. From 1928 to 1935 he was secretary of the Vlaamse Club, an association of poets, painters and musicians, founded by August Vermeylen in Brussels, and he worked from 1928 to 1940 together with the theatre troupe Rataillon. Pelemans occasionally provided music for this troupe, which was led by Albert Lepage and specialised in experimental theatre. From 1944, Pelemans’ role as a composer and thus as a player on the cultural scene became more important. As music editor for the newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, besides reviewing concerts, he made a priority of presenting young, home-grown musical talent. His position as chairperson of the Union of Belgian Composers from 1971 to 1981 was similarly marked by his contribution to the promotion of native composers. Pelemans had also previously worked devising programmes for Librado (the Liberal broadcaster) at the NIR (Belgian national radio), from 1931 to 1938. This gave him an opportunity to cautiously introduce more “progressive” music onto the airwaves, but despite his moderation he met with opposition from the Liberal broadcaster. Just before the Second World War and for a considerable time thereafter he also provided commentaries on musical life for the national broadcaster, separate from his work for Librado. This work included his so-called “musings of a music-lover”, making him a pioneer of so-called “talk radio”. This wide range of activities made Willem Pelemans an important figure over 60 years of musical life in Brussels/Flanders/Belgium, particularly as a promoter of “difficult” music for a wider audience. In this same spirit, the Willem Pelemans Prize (later renamed the Jeanne and Willem Pelemans Prize), awarded since his death in 1991 (October 28 in Sint-Agatha-Berchem) celebrates musicians who have played an important role in the advancement of Belgian music.