Adolphe Biarent

Who was Adolphe Biarent?

Adolphe Biarent was a Belgian composer, conductor, cellist and music teacher.

Biarent studied at the conservatories of Brussels and of Ghent, and was a pupil of Émile Mathieu. He won a Belgian Prix de Rome with his cantata Oedipe à Colone in 1901, after which he remained near his home in Charleroi, composing, conducting and teaching. He was the teacher of Fernand Quinet.

Although still little known now, Biarent composed music that successfully combines "the structural solidity" of César Franck and Vincent d'Indy with "something of the orchestral brilliance and clarity" of Emmanuel Chabrier.