Dirk Verelst, violinist and conductor, studied at the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Antwerp with Franz Wigy and in Geneva with Henryk Szeryng.  Afterwards he specialized in the performance of 18th century music with Sigiswald Kuijken and became a member of the Baroque Ensemble "La Petite Bande", with whom he played concerts all over the world and was able to perform on radio and television and to record for well-known record labels.

Dirk Verelst was a violin and chamber music professor at the Conservatories of Antwerp and Maastricht.  Since 1991, he is the president of the International Academy of Arts, and, since 2003, the artistic director and president of Love²Arts.  In collaboration with the Lakatos Ensemble, he has conducted concerts, live television performances and DVD recordings.

Dirk Verelst was guest professor and conductor at the Xing-Hai Conservatory of Guangzhou (China), guest professor at The Korean International University of Arts in Seoul, guest conductor of the Collegium Musicum of Kyiv, a jury member at different competitions such as the International Shabyt Violin competition in Astana (Kazakhstan), and guest professor and conductor at different master classes with his friends and colleagues, such as Mikhaïl Bezverkhny, Herman Krebbers, Philippe Hirschhorn, Roby Lakatos, Igor Frolov, Igor Oistrakh and Sung-Ju Lee.