Renier Van der Velden was born in Borgerhout on 14 January 1910. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in Antwerp from the age of fourteen but was unable to complete his formal music studies, partly because of his military service. He subsequently received private lessons from J. Jongen and K. Candael. Van der Velden was thus for the most part a self-taught musician. From 1945, he worked for the BRT (Belgian Radio and Television) in Antwerp, where he ensured that new Flemish music was given an important place in his programmes. In the years 1947-48, he led the male-voice choir, Lasallekring, with which, besides the songs of J. Broeckx and F. D’Haeyer, he performed folksong arrangements by Bela Bartok. He also put together a chamber music ensemble of professional singers with which he presented concerts in the Rubenshuis in Antwerp. In 1961, Van der Velden received the prize of the Province of Antwerp for his Ballet, Judith. SABAM (the Belgian authors’ rights association) awarded him the Paul Gilson Prize in 1967 for his complete oeuvre. His Sinfonietta for orchestra won the Visser-Neerlandia Prize in 1970. In that same year he became a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences of Belgium. Many of Van der Velden’s works were premiered at the Flanders Festival in Ghent, such as the Concertino for flute and string orchestra (1965) and the Concerto for piano and strings (1971). The Union of Belgian Composers awarded him the 1989 Fuga Prize for his part in the advancement of Belgian music. Four years later, on 19 January 1993, Van der Velden died in Antwerp.