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(CEBEDEM)
Octaaf VAN GEERT was born in Aalst on 4 February 1949. He studied at the Royal Conservatories of Ghent and Brussels, earning first prizes in solfège, harmony, counterpoint, fugue and composition. His most influential teachers were O. Van Puyvelde, J. Mestdagh, V. Legley and R. Coryn.
His compositions have won numerous prizes: in 1977 he was awarded the Provincial Prize for Vocal Music (Province of East Flanders), in 1984 he received the Belgian Artistic Promotion Prize in the Peter Benoit Composition Competition (Harelbeke) as well as the Jef Denijn Prize at the International Composition Competition for Carillon in Mechelen, and in 1986 he won the National Prize of the Muzikon Royal Conservatory Ghent and the Muizelhuis Prize at the National Composition Competition for Chamber Music.
Octaaf Van Geert has been chiefly active in the area of education: he taught solfège at the music academy in Aalst and music education at the Hogeschool Gent K. Ledeganck from 1971 to 1980. Since 1979 he has taught harmony at the conservatory in Bruges, and harmony, counterpoint and fugue at the Royal Conservatory in Ghent, where he has also taught orchestration, organology and composition since 1992.
Together with Lucien Posman and Daniel Gistelinck, he forms part of the so-called “New Ghent Schoolâ€, a group of composers who all studied with Roland Coryn.
His works have been premiered by, among others, the Hans Memling Trio, the New Flemish Symphony Orchestra conducted by P. Peire, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Flanders conducted by M. Tang, the Ensor String Quartet, the Kolacny Piano Duo and the VRT (Flemish Radio) Orchestra, conducted by H. Rotman. Recent commissions and projects (since 2001) have included the String Quartet no. 2, participation in the Van Composers’ Festival at de Rode Pomp in Ghent and the CD recording of his piano trio by the Rachmaninoff Trio. |