Martijn Dendievel, born in Oostende in 1995, comes from a family of musicians. He showed a great interest for music during his childhood and took his first musical steps on the violin at the age of three. A few years later, he switched to the cello and started playing the recorder, percussion, and the harpsichord. As an instrumentalist, he gained orchestral experience in various youth orchestras, and has performed in halls such as the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and BOZAR in Brussels.
At the age of 14, he was exceptionally admitted to the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in music theory with distinction, whilst studying cello with Jeroen Reuling. Martijn then moved to Germany to study conducting at the HfM Franz Liszt Weimar with Prof. Nicolás Pasquet and Prof. Ekhart Wycik. In July 2022, he finished his master’s degree in orchestral conducting. Martijn has been mentored by Bernard Haitink, Paavo Järvi, Christian Thielemann and Iván Fischer.
After winning the 2021 German Conducting Award and obtaining laureate awards at the Donatella Flick Competition as well as the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, he is invited to orchestras across the world where he is often appraised for his thorough knowledge of the repertoire and his vivid and expressive conducting. Martijn is currently chief conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker and associate conductor of Flanders Symphony Orchestra.
Martijn will take over as chief conductor of Flanders Symphony Orchestra in January 2026.
