Originally from the Heist-op-den-Berg, Kris Hellemans begins his musical studies at the age of six with his mother teaching him to play the accordion. A few years later, he discovered the viola, and was taken in by the full body and warmth of sound of this instrument. A prize-winner in the Axion Classics Contest, Kris then studied at Lemmensinstituut  in Louvain with Marc Tooten. He obtained his Bachelors Degree at the Music Conservatory of Maastricht and his Masters Degree at Louvain, both with the Highest Distinction. Kris then studied musical interpretation with Paul Silverthorne, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Paul Coletti, Andreyi Viytovich and Tabea Zimmermann, perfecting his skills under the tutelage of Bruno Pasquier in Paris for one year.   Since 2006, he has been viola principal of the Flanders Symphony Orchestra and plays regularly with several Belgian orchestras, including the ‘Beethoven Academie’ and ‘I Fiamminghi’, the orchestra of the National Opera House ‘La Monnaie’, the ‘Collegium Instrumentale’, and the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra.   Since Kris’s early days at the music conservatory, chamber music has played a very important role for him. His repertoire today includes contemporary performances, in which he feels just as comfortable as with classical performances. As a member of the string quartet Blindman Strings (currently known as Arsis4), Kris has joined the Orpheus Institute in Ghent. He has been a member of the Alfama Quartet since 2008. Kris has taken chamber music master classes with a number of musicians, including the Artemis Quartet, the Danel Quartet, the Spiegel Quartet, Heime Müller, Eberhard Feltz, Philippe Graffin, Jeroen Reuling, Roger Chase and Renaud Capuçon.