Karel Van Eycken made a full career as building engineer in his country. At the same time, he studied music since his youth : first the fundamentals of musical theory and solfège with his grand-father (who was director of several bands) ; afterwards as an autodidact. Composing happened only during the spare free time. Many compositions were made but by lacking contacts in the music world, they ended in the slide.
A biography (in Dutch) of the Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů , written by Karel Van Eycken in the years 1980 - 1983 brought him contacts with the Czech musical world. He was honoured for that work in Prague where he received the Bohuslav Martinů Medal, and he became honorary citizen of the town of Polička, birthplace of Martinů.
At the age of 60, Karel Van Eycken retired as engineer and from then on, he could spent all his time to composing music. All existing works were verified and revised, some destroyed. A flow of new compositions were created and this is still going. A new symphony is in progress on his composition table.
A first CD was recorded with the two string quartets and the cello sonata by the Cesar Franck Quartet and the Arias Duo. This CD is commercialised.
All compositions of Karel Van Eycken are edited (or are in preparation) by DMP in Antwerp.