Brecht Valckenaers

Biography

Brecht Valckenaers is a versatile pianist and composer who combines his passion for classical and contemporary repertoire with his own compositions and improvisations. He studied with Nikolaas Kende at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp and with Eliso Virsaladze at the Scuola di Musica di Fiesole, and is currently studying with Claudio Martínez Mehner at the Hochschule für Musik Basel. Brecht has won prizes at several competitions, most recently Third Prize and the Prize for Best Performance of a Dutch Work at the 2025 YPF European Piano Competition. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras and at venues such as Bozar, Flagey, and Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. His debut album Ex Nihilo, focusing on Musica Ricercata by Ligeti alongside his own compositions, was released in February 2026.