Philippe Herreweghe was born in Ghent and studied at both the university and music conservatory there. During this period he started conducting and founded Collegium Vocale Gent in 1970.

 Philippe Herreweghe’s energetic, authentic and rhetorical approach to baroque music was soon drawing praise. In 1977 he founded the ensemble La Chapelle Royale in Paris, with whom he performed music of the French Golden Age. In 1991 he founded the Orchestre des Champs Élysées with the aim of playing pre-Romantic and Romantic repertoire on original instruments.

 Highlights of the 2023/24 season include guest appearances with the Münchner Philharmoniker, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Philharmonia Orchestra London. Together with the both Ensembles, he will tour Europe with the Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in November 2023.

 In August and September 2023, Philippe Herreweghe, together with the orchestra and choir of Collegium Vocale Gent, will return to Europe’s leading festivals such as Chopin Festival Warsaw, Musikfest Bremen, Musikfest Berlin and Enescu Festival Bucharest. In March 2024, he will be presenting the Matthäus-Passion program, followed by the b minor Mass of J. S. Bach in June 2024.

 Philippe Herreweghe has received numerous awards for his consistent artistic imagination and commitment. In 1990 the European music press named him “Musical Personality of the Year”. Philippe Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent were appointed “Cultural Ambassadors of Flanders” in 1993. A year later he was awarded the Belgian order of Officier des Arts et Lettres and in 2003 he received the French title Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur. In 2010 the city of Leipzig awarded him its Bach-Medaille for his great service as a performer of Bach. In 2017 Philippe Herreweghe received an honorary doctorate at Ghent University.