Jacqueline Fontyn was born in Antwerp in 1930. From 1963 to 1970 she was Professor of Music Theory at the Antwerp Royal Conservatory and from 1970 until 1990 Professor of Composition at the Brussels Royal Conservatory. Her catalogue of compositions comprises more than 100 works. Those for orchestra have been performed, notably, by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Dresdner Philharmonic and the Prague Radio Orchestra. In 1993 the King of Belgium granted her the title of baroness in recognition of her artistic merit.