International Academy of Arts, France
The International Academy of Arts was founded in 1991 and organizes Master-Classes, Violin competitions, and all kinds of Work Shops around the
world. More than 2000 participants from 1991 through 2006 came over to France and enjoyed the Master-Classes. Dirk Verelst is the president of
the International Academy of Arts.
Dirk Verelst, violinist and conductor, studied at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp with Franz Wigy and in Geneva with Henryk Szeryng. Afterwards he specialized in the performance of 18th century music with Sigiswald Kuijken and became a member of the Baroque Ensemble "La Petite Bande". With this ensemble, he played concerts all over the world and was able to perform on radio and television and to record for well-known labels such as Erato, Telefunken, Harmonia Mundi, Philips and Séon. He is guest professor and conductor at the Xing-Hai Conservatory of Guangzhou (China), guest professor at The Korean International University of Arts in Seoul and guest-conductor of the Collegium Musicum of Kyiv.
Since 2003, he is the artistic director and conductor of the Love2Arts Company. In collaboration with the famous Lakatos Ensemble he was conducting concerts and live TV and DVD productions in Leipzig, Prague, Poznan, Beograd, Cannes, Ankara, Istanbul and Brussels. He was invited as a jury member during different international competitions such as the International Shabyt Violin competition in Astana (Kazakhstan), and the International Violin Competition in Cremona (Italy).
During Summer Courses he is guest professor and conductor on different Master-Classes with his friends and colleagues, such as M. Bezverkhny, H. Krebbers, Ph. Hirschhorn, R. Lakatos, I. Frolov, I. Oistrakh, S-J Lee and many others.
Presently, Dirk Verelst is violin and chamber music professor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp and at the University of State (department Conservatory) in Maastricht.
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