After studying the guitar at the Conservatoire Royal De Bruxelles, Philippe Malfeyt taught himself the lute. In 1983 he obtained a diploma in lute performance at the Royal College of Music, London. Since then, he has appeared regularly as a soloist and in duos (with the harpist Hannelore Devaere, the flautist Patrick Beuckels, the flamenco guitarist Michel Gillain and the soprano Katelijne Van Laethem) as well as with numerous larger groups (La Caccia, La Pastorella, Millenarium, Il Fondamento, Rans, La Roza Enflorese, Currende, Zefiro Torna).
In 1989, he founded the vocal-instrumental ensemble Romanesque, specialising in lesser-known Renaissance music. Their recordings of Willaert, Ockeghem and Utendal have been praised by the international press.
Philippe Malfeyt is also growing increasingly interested in other musical genres, with the aim of freeing the lute from the confines of its historical repertoire. The lute trio Luthomania brings the three musical cultures of Morocco, Belgium and China face to face through the medium of new compositions and improvisation. Meanwhile the trio Sheng (with harmonica and percussion) lies more in the European jazz tradition. Philippe Malfeyt is currently assembling a multicultural programme about the renaissance theologian Nicolaes Cleynaerts, combining flamenco, Arabic and Sephardic music, and early Belgian songs.
He has also appeared on around a hundred CDs, for the labels Ricercar, Aulos, Erato, Opus 111, Vanguard, Gailly Productions, Sony, Eufoda and Music & Words, among others.

July 2019