Dr Kurt Bertels is a classical saxophonist and postdoctoral researcher. In 2020, he obtained his PhD in Arts from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel/Royal Conservatoire of Brussels with his thesis on the Brussels saxophone class (1867-1904). He published his monograph Een ongehoord geluid (An Unheard Sound, ASP Editions, 2020) and presented his reconstruction of nineteenth-century saxophone practice on two CDs: The Saxophone in 19th-Century Brussels and Works for Saxophone and Orchestra by Paul Gilson (Etcetera Records, 2020). He currently works as a postdoctoral researcher at LUCA School of Arts Campus Lemmens (Associated Faculty of Arts/KU Leuven) and focuses on music and patronage, transnationalism and historical performance practices in the early twentieth century. He is an elected editorial member of the scientific journal The Saxophone Symposium (USA) and is also a member of the Young Academy (Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts), where he leads a working group on artistic (“practice-based”) research, among other things. As a soloist and member of chamber music ensembles, he performs and participates in CD, radio and television recordings at home and abroad. He regularly collaborates with contemporary (Belgian) composers and has already commissioned more than 50 compositions. In 2012, he received the UBC medal for this work and in 2018 the Fuga Trophy from the Union of Belgian Composers.