Belgian conductor Martijn Dendievel is Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker and Chief Conductor of Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen. Since winning the 2021 German Conducting Award, and laureate awards at the Donatella Flick Competition and the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam, Dendievel has been invited to orchestras across the world where he is often praised for his vivid and expressive conducting technique, and for his extensive and thorough knowledge of the repertoire.
Alongside his commitment to the Hofer Symphoniker and Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen, Martijn enjoys longstanding relationships with the Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, and Sinfonia Varsovia. In the 2025/26 season, he also debuts with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, Danish Philharmonic Orchestra, LOH-Orchester Sondershausen, Orchestra del Teatro Petruzelli Bari and Sofia Opera Orchestra. Martijn’s recent guest conducting highlights elsewhere include performances with the WDR Sinfonieorchester, Tonkünstler-Orchester Wien, Bamberger Symphoniker and Copenhagen Philharmonic. Furthermore, he has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Staatskapelle Weimar, and the Rotterdam Philharmonic, amongst others. In 2024, he debuted at the Chopin and his Europe festival in Warsaw.
Growing up in a family of musicians, Martijn Dendievel showed a great interest in 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, Martijn 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. Martijn has received mentoring from Bernard Haitink and Paavo Järvi, amongst others. He also received significant support from encounters with Christian Thielemann, Iván Fischer and Edo de Waart.
Apart from the music language, he is fluent in Dutch, German, English and French, and has an extensive knowledge of Italian and Swedish.
