When he was five years of age, Emile Verstraeten started taking violin and piano lessons at the Music Academy of Waregem. When he was seven, he went to the Music Academy of Deinze, where he studied with Paul Malfait and Flora van Leeuwen. He continued his violin studies at the School of Art in Gent with Paul Klinck and from there he went to the Royal Conservatory of Brussels with great enthusiasm and completed his classical education with Yuzuko Horigome, feeling that he had finally found someone who gave him the freedom to develop himself.
Meanwhile, he had been greatly influenced by Gypsy swing and Hungarian Gypsy music in his upbringing: his father played the bass in the well-known Waso Quartet. Those influences took him along paths that were very different from just classical violin playing and they made him into an all-round musician, with a very broad view and eager to develop himself in the future. From that position, he allowed himself to be inspired also by the wonderful melting pot of all the great musical loves of his youth: Niccolò Paganini, Elvis Presley, David Oistrach, Michael Jackson, Chet Baker, Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, The Radios.
Emile Verstraeten played in many classical ensembles as a violinist such as the Chamber Charlemagne Orchestra (with Yuzuko Horigome), the Gaggini Quartet and the J. Smet String Quartet.
He also shared the stage with artists like Björk, Kommil foo, Koen Waso Dajo de Cauter, Nostoc, Debby en Nancy, Trio Magyar, Hans Mortelmans, Fappy Lafertin, Tcha Limberger, Paul Klinck, Geert De Deyger, Bella Donna, Hadise, Sioen, Els Deschepper, Michel Verstraeten, Edely, Johan Verminnen, Bart Peeters, Sam van Ingelghem, Kris Baert, Jean Blaute, Bert Ostyn, Erik Melaerts, Ronny Mosuse, Jan De Wilde, Hannelore Bedert, Alexander Debeuckelaere, Urbanus, Phillip Bruffaerts, Miguel Wiels, Ivan & Mike Smeulders, Steven De Bruyn, De Nieuwe Snaar, Stijn, Piet Van Den Heuvel, Kapitein Winokio, Fay Lovski, Flip Kowlier, Lucas Van den Eynde, Pierre Anckaert, Philip Catherine.
Since 2009 Emile teaches melodic improvisation as a guest teacher at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven.
Emile Verstraeten went on tour through Flanders and the Netherlands with Bart Peeters from 2006 through 2011 and collaborated in making the CDs “De hemel in het klad”,”De ideale man” and “Het beste en tot nog eens”.
Currently he is working at his own solo project ‘Emilio’, while other projects are being hatched or taking shape gradually.
Instruments:
Violin: Ch.J.B.Collin-Mezin 1892 (France)
Bow: Charles Louis Bazin (France)
Guitars: Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion 1996 (U.S.A.) & Fender Stratocaster 2001 (U.S.A.)
Amps: Fender “Hot Rod” DeVille 2x12” & "Pro Junior" (U.S.A.)
Voice: Emile Verstraeten 1980 (Belgium)
