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Rudolf Werthen is a well-known Belgian violinist and conductor, founder and director of the chamber orchestra I Fiamminghi.

As a violinist, he is considered an heir to the Belgian violin school, exemplified by the great virtuoso Eugéne Ÿsaye. His career began rapidly in 1971 when he won two major violin competitions, the first Kreisler Competition and the Queen Elisabeth of Belgium Competition, the most prestigious of all violin awards. Following these victories, the Belgian Government named him Virtuoso of the Belgian Government, a position previously held by the late Arthur Grumiaux.

In 1982, he began his conducting career by substituting for maestro Klaus Tennsted when the German conductor became indisposed while touring Europe with the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In 1984, he co-founded I Fiamminghi as a string orchestra and has led it ever since. The orchestra concentrates on Romantic era and later repertory, and is especially known for his championing of the music of the post-serial era of such composers as Kancheli, Hovhaness, Vasks, and Pärt. Its Romantic era interpretations (from the times of Beethoven and Schubert to that of Mahler) are noted for Werthen's practice of researching scores and performance materials for authenticity and in using the playing techniques current when the particular composition was written.

I Fiamminghi was immediately successful, and during its first decade recorded for the SOF, RGIP, and Koch and BMG labels. In 1994, Werthen and I Fiamminghi signed an exclusive contract with the American label Telarc.

Werthen's success with I Fiamminghi led to his being appointed music director of the Flanders Opera in 1988, and his tenure has been especially praised for productions of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Verdi's Macbeth, Rossini's La Cenerentola, Wagner's Flying Dutchman, and Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.

In 1992, the Flemish government appointed him and I Fiamminghi as "Cultural Ambassador of Flanders," citing "the quality and international reputation of the orchestra." Also in 1992, Werthen enlarged I Fiamminghi to a full orchestra by adding winds and percussion.

Werthen is also a member of the faculty of the Royal Music Conservatory of Ghent, where he has taught since in 1975. He also devotes a significant part of his time to efforts on behalf of those who are disabled or in poverty, and in ecological concerns.

Not readily identifiable with any single school of composition, composer Peteris Vasks has an original voice that is engaged deeply with the historical epoch in which he lived. He is regarded as a major figure in Eastern European music of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Vasks was born on April 16, 1946, in Aizpute, Latvia. His father was a Baptist pastor. Early in his career, Vasks played the violin, which he studied at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music. He was also trained as a double bassist, studying at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre with Vitautas Sereikaan, and in the 1960s and '70s, he was active as an orchestral musician in Latvia. Vasks turned to composition, studying for a time in Lithuania and facing problems from Soviet authorities because of his family's religious faith. Early Vasks works include Cantabile (1979), Musica Dolorosa for string orchestra (1983), and Lauda for orchestra (1986). In some works from the first part of his career, Vasks followed composer Witold Lutoslawski in experimenting with aleatoric (chance) techniques. He also drew on Latvian folk sources as an inspiration, notably in the pastoral Concerto for cor anglais and orchestra of 1989.

Several works propelled Vasks to international prominence in the '90s. One was the Symphony No. 1 ("Voices") of 1990-1991, which set depictions of nature against a despairing cacophony and seemed to reflect Latvia's long struggle for independence. Another was the violin concerto "Distant Light" of 1996-1997, which was championed by violinist and conductor Gidon Kremer. Whatever its genre (he wrote large numbers of orchestral, choral, chamber, and keyboard works), Vasks' music had a distinctive spiritual quality. His often-transparent tonal language has led some to group him with other minimalist composers from the Baltic countries, but his expressive world is unique. Two of his string quartets, the String Quartet No. 4 (1999) and String Quartet No. 5 (2004), were composed for the immensely popular Kronos Quartet in the U.S. Vasks has served many residencies and been richly honored in the West as well as in Eastern Europe, and he has remained active into old age; violinist Sebastian Bohren issued a recording of his new Violin Concerto No. 2 in 2024. By that time, at least 100 of Vasks' works were available on recordings. ~ James Manheim