Martijn Dendievel showed interest in music during his childhood and has grown today to a 25-year-old versatile musician. He currently serves as assistant conductor to the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and is supported by the Dirigentenforum of the German Music Council. In December 2018, he won the first prize in the conducting competition of the MDR Symphony Orchestra. This was followed by the first prize and the audience prize at the Louis Spohr Conducting Competition in Kassel in September 2019. More recently, he won the Conductor's Academy of the Tonhalle-Orchester in Zurich, was a finalist in the Donatella Flick Competition in London and will compete in the International Conducting Competition Rotterdam as “designate winner” in May 2022. After taking first musical steps on the violin, he switched to violoncello and enrolled in the city conservatory in Bruges. There, he also studied percussion, harpsichord and recorder. He gained orchestral experience as a timpanist and cellist in several Belgian youth orchestras. At the age of 14, he was exceptionally accepted at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels where he obtained a bachelor's degree in music theory with distinction. In 2014 Martijn came to the HfM Franz Liszt in Weimar as an Erasmus student, where he continues his conducting studies with Prof. Nicolás Pasquet. Furthermore, he gained valuable insights during masterclasses with Bernard Haitink, Christian Thielemann, Paavo Järvi and Iván Fischer. He has made guest appearances with the Belgian National Orchestra, the Jenaer Philharmonie, the Staatskapelle Weimar and the MDR Symphony Orchestra. He has also led the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Filharmonie Hradec Králové and the Bremen Philharmonic. In December 2019 he made his conducting debut at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with the Flanders Symphony Orchestra. In the 2021/2022 season he will make his debut with the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. Furthermore, he will perform "Das Lied von der Erde" with HERMESensemble and conduct a Berio/Neuwirth program with I SOLISTI. He is fluent in English, German, Dutch and French and possesses extensive knowledge of Italian and Swedish.