Aldo Baerten is Principal Flutist at the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, conducted by Maestro Edo de Waart, Philippe Herreweghe and Martyn Brabbins. He is Professor for flute at the Royal Conservatorium in Antwerp, at the Hogeschool der Kunsten Utrecht (NL) and gives masterclasses in Belgium, Finland, the Netherlands, France, Mexico, Australia , the US and Japan. He is a regular guest at the Chamber Orchestra of Europe Mahler Chamber Orchestra, I Fiamminghi, European Union Opera (G. Roshdentvensky), Belgische Kamerfilharmonie and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra..

During his studies with Prof. Peter-Lukas Graf (Musikhochschule Basel), where he obtained the Diploma as a Soloist, with Jeanne Baxtresser (former Principal Flutist of the New York Philharmonic) and with Philippe Boucly (Bavarian Radio Symphony and R.Strauss-Konservatorium München), he became Prize-winner in competitions such as “Maria Canals” (Barcelona 2001), Vienna (2004), Axion Classics, Quantz, and the National Instrument competition of Belgium. He received the Alex de Vries-prize, the SABAM-award, and the Caecilia-prize of the Belgian music-press.

Aldo Baerten played as a soloist with eminent orchestras as the Südwestdeutsches Kammerorchester, RSO Basel, National Orchestra of Belgium, Walloon Chamber Orchestra, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, Las Vegas and Kansas City Symphony under the baton of D. Stern, V. Czarniecki, P. Rundel, G. Octors, Z. Nagy, T. Yuasa, S. Byess, E. Aadland and R.Wilson. He is a regular guest at festivals around the world, together with famous musicians such as J.van Dam, Martin Helmchen, Severin Von Eckardstein, Martin Spangenberg, Niek de Groot, Storioni Trio, Michel Strauss, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Hervé Joulain, Kandinsky-trio, Jana Bouskova, Dietrich Henschel, Anneleen Lenaerts and Tatjana Masurenko.

Aldo Baerten has recorded extensively on Cypres, Phaedra, ECM, Pentatone and Beriato Music. His recording of Schuberts Introduction, Theme and Variations on Trockne Blumen (die schöne Müllerin) with pianist Martin Helmchen was nominated for the BBC Music Prize of best chamber-music recording of the year 2010.

From 1989 until 1993 he was Principal Flutist with Claudio Abbado’s Orchestra of the E.U, where he has played under conductors such as B. Haitink, V. Ashkenazy, V. Neumann, J. Conlon and J. Tate. He was also chosen as Principal of the Schleswigholstein Festival Orchestra (Sir G.Solti) and the World Youth Orchestra. Aldo Baerten was the Principal Flutist of the Belgian Chamber Orchestra and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig. He had the honour of playing in masterclasses for Jean-Pierre Rampal, A. Nicolet, A. Adorjan and J. Zoon.

Aldo Baerten is a regular Jury-Member of the Benelux-Flute Competition, Axion Classics, Lyons-music-competition, NFA Young Artists Competition and Yamaha Music Foundation. His students occupy positions in orchestras and conservatories in Belgium and abroad. He is currently the International Liaison Officer for the National Flute Association of America 2009-2014, and serves on the Board of Collegium Vocale Gent. Aldo Baerten is a Powell Flutes Artist.

Website Aldo Baerten

Peter Verhoyen studied flute with Yves Gazelle, Paul Vanwolleghem, Ida Ribera and Eric Dequeker at the conservatories of Brussels, Meudon/Paris, Ghent and Antwerp. He was a prize-winner in Dexia Classics and the Concours International UFAM in Paris. He was also a semi-finalist in the NFA Orlando Young Artists'Competition in 1995.

Since 2002 Peter is principal piccolo for theRoyal Flemish Philharmonic Orchestra (chief conductor: Edo De Waart, principal conductor Philippe Herreweghe). His two piccolo recital CD’s with pianist Stefan De Schepper established his reputation as a piccolo specialist. He was invited to give masterclasses in Enschede (Artez Hogeschool), Brno (Janacek Academy) and Paris (CNSMP). He has given piccolo recitals at the NFA Conventions in New York, Anaheim and Las Vegas (USA). He currently teaches piccolo at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp and at his private flute studio in Bruges.

He is co-founder of Arco Baleno, a chamber music ensemble consisting of string quartet and flute. With this ensemble he was awarded the first prize at the international CHAIN chamber music competition in Enschede and the Musical Youth Debut Prize for chamber music. Arco Baleno realized twelve CDs as well as various radio recordings. The ensemble toured in Germany, France, Slovenia, the USA and the Netherlands. Together with his wife, he was the editor of the Flemish Flute Journal (1997-2002).

Website Peter Verhoyen

Robert Pot studied with Thies Roorda and Koos Verheul. He attended many masterclasses e.g. William Bennett's, Trevor Wye's, Robert Dick's, and Geoffrey Gilbert's.

He specialized in chamber music and played with the “Nicolaï Consort”, an ensemble that mainly played barock music. He is a member of “Ensemble 7211”. An ensemble for two flutes and piano.

In Germany Robert Pot got famous with the international flute courses he regularly organizes with Rudolf Döbler (Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin RSB). For the last four years he has been the artistic manager, together with Döbler, of the flute festival the “Flötentage Staufen”, near Freiburg. For Robert Pot it has always been a priority to bring the whole “flute-family” together: amateurs and professionals, the young ones and the old ones.

Robert Pot travels through the South of Germany where he teaches professionals and advanced amateurs. Among his students graduates of Bennett, Gérard, Schochow, Delius, Schaaff and Greiss-Armin are to be found. A refreshing and unconventional teaching style based on an individual analysis of the capabilities of each student are the most important characteristics. He thoroughly studied the great contemporary researchers of cognitive development. He translated principles of cognitive developers to flute education and based his approach on Vygotsky and Gal'perin to mention the most important of them.

Robert is Jury-Member of the Benelux-Flute Competition.

Website Robert Pot

Stefan De Schepper started having piano-lessons at age 4. He was a laureate at different competitions, among which Jong Talent, de Prix de Jeunes at Vervier, the Bach-competition, the Cantabile-competition, the National Music Competition of the Gemeentekrediet of Belgium (for Chambermusic) and the Durletcompetition. He also received the prize De Vries-Tolkowsky and the Annie Rutzky-prize. Stefan gave concerts with - among others - I Solisti del Vento and the Ensor Stringquartet, the Orchestras of Youth and Music Antwerpen, La Chapelle de Lorraine and the New Flemish Symphony Orchestra.

Stefan De Schepper is piano accompanist at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp, the Kunsthumaniora in Brussels and the Academy for Music and Literature at Hemiksem. He gave concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Ireland, Sweden, Spain and the United States. He also played in several homeland and foreign radio and television broadcasts. Stefan has been active as an accompanist in masterclasses with Gaby Pas van Riet, Peter-Lucas Graf, Emmanuel Pahud, Philippe Boucly, Philippe Bernold, Jorge Caryevschi, Barthold Kuijken and Jean-Louis Beaumardier.

Together with Peter Verhoyen he recently recorded a cd devoted to music for piccolo and piano. He is a teacher and accompanist at the Academy for Music and Literature at Hemiksem.