Jacqueline Fontyn


Jacqueline, Baroness Fontyn is a contemporary Belgian composer, pianist and music educator. She was born in Antwerp, and has received the title of baroness from the King of Belgium in recognition of her many artistic contributions.

Early years

Jacqueline Fontyn was born in Antwerp, Belgium, and began piano studies at the age of five years with Ignace Bolotin. At nine years old, she began to compose small pieces, and at the age of 14, she decided to be a composer. She continued her piano studies with Marcel Maas and studied music theory and composition with Marcel Quinet in Brussels and with Max Deutsch in Paris. She also studied orchestra conducting in Vienna with Hans Swarovski and graduated in 1959 from the Belgian Chapelle Musicale Elisabeth.

Career

Working in Antwerp, Fontyn founded a mixed choir Le Tympan and directed it for seven years. She conducted the Symphonic Orchestra of the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium for two years.
From 1963 to 1970 she taught counterpoint at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp. From 1970 to 1990 she was a professor at the Conservatory of Brussels where she taught first counterpoint and later composition. She also taught at Georgetown University, the American University in Washington, D.C., and the University of Maryland, and worked as a music teacher in Baltimore, Los Angeles, Cairo, Seoul and Tel Aviv.
Jacqueline Fontyn has received numerous honors and awards including the Prix de Rome, the Oscar Esplanada prize in 1962 in Alicante, Spain and Prix Honegger in 1988. She is a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Poetry and the Fine Arts of Belgium. Jacqueline Fontyn is a member of the Belgian Royal Academy and in 1993 the King of Belgium granted her the title of baroness in recognition of her artistic contributions.

Works

Orchestral works