Lucien Goethals

Lucien Goethals was born in Ghent (Belgium) June 26, 1931. From 1933 on, his family lived in Buenos Aires (Argentina) and it was there that he began his musical studies (piano, counterpoint). On his return to Belgium in 1947, he continued his education at the Ghent Royal Conservatory, where he obtained certificates in the organ, music history, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. After leaving the conservatory in 1956, he studied composition and orchestration with composer Norbert Rosseau. He took courses at Bilthoven (Netherlands) and at Darmstadt (Germany). Next, he studied new musical techniques with G.M.Koenig and trained in electronic music with Louis De Meester. Later, he took a course in composition by computer and the Institute of Sonology in utrecht (Netherlands) and continued his work with G.M.Koenig. Following several years of independent work, during which time he resolutely directed his attention toward a personal synthesis of the most modern compositional techniques, in 1962, he realized his first composition in electronic music. Since the creation in 1963 of the IPEM (Institute of Psychoacustics and Electronic Music) at the Ghent State University, the BRT (Flemish Broadcasting of Radio Belgium) established Goethals there as composer-producer until 1986. In 1971 he became also teacher of musical analysis at the Royal Conservatory at Ghent. He won several awards for composition (national and international) and in 1981 the « Tri-anual Cultural Prize » of the city of Ghent, Belgium. He has realized several scores for drama and film. His works have been performed in almost all the countries of Europe, in the United States, Uruguay, Cuba, Brasil, Israel and Japan.
He died in Ghent, aged 75.