Vermote incorporates drama in her compositions,
searches for colour and likes to work with the human voice and with non-Western instruments. In addition to being a composer she is also a guitarist, hence her exceptional affinity with string instruments.

Petra Vermote was born in 1968 in Izegem where she studied guitar at the municipal music school with Diane Vermeersch. This was followed by studies at the Ghent conservatory, culminating in first prizes in solfège, guitar, chamber music, harmony, counterpoint and fugue, as well as the Higher Diploma in guitar under Baltazar Benitez. She studied composition with Frank Nuyts, Jan Rispens, Lucien Goethals and Roland Coryn. In 1999 she earned the “Meester in de muziek” diploma from the Antwerp conservatory, specialising in composition (under Luc Van Hove). Petra Vermote teaches guitar at the conservatory in Ghent as an assistant to Yves Storms. She also teaches courses in accompaniment and music education in the guitar department. Vermote gives guitar lessons at the music academy in Izegem and provides the musical programming for De Wekker, an organisation in Roeselare. As a composer, she has written works on commission for such groups as the Beethoven Academie, the Flanders Festival (Kortrijk), the Ictus Ensemble and Champ d’Action. In October 2001, she received the Youth and Music Prize for composition, a tri-annual award given to a composer under the age of 35.