Bart Verstraeten was born in Sint-Niklaas (Belgium) on 22 August 1981. He began experimenting on an organ at home when he was very young. At the age of six, he took his first piano lessons and theory classes at the Stedelijke Academie voor Muziek, Woord en Dans in Sint-Niklaas, where he also completed his secondary and higher degrees. He obtained his master’s diploma in music theory and notation from the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp, where he was taught composition by Luc Van Hove and Wim Henderickx. He took his first steps into the world of composition in 2001. At the beginning of July 2005, his piece, Perpetuum Mobile, was performed at the Musical Days of Flanders in the House of Composers in St. Petersburg. In the same year, he was awarded the SABAM prize in the Walter Heynen composition competition and was also a “Mozart in New Clothes 2006” laureate, a competition sponsored by the Belgian classical radio station, Klara, with his composition, Alla Zingarese.