Guido De Neve was born into a musical family. At the age of eleven, he was admitted as a student to the Royal Conservatoire of Brussels. From that early age, he performed regularly in chamber music concerts and as a soloist with orchestra.
In 2004, De Neve began performing on historical instruments, opening up a new field of research into musical style, sound, phrasing, and more. Today, he performs on baroque, classical–romantic, and modern violins, exploring the unique sound world of each instrument. One result of this research is his complete recording of the Bach Sonatas for violin and harpsichord with Frank Agsteribbe. This recording received a review score of 10/10 from Luister magazine for its outstanding performance and groundbreaking approach.
A major highlight of his work on the romantic violin was the discovery and recording of César Franck’s second violin sonata. This resulted in a unique album featuring both of Franck’s violin sonatas, performed in authentic romantic style on original instruments. Clive Brown, a leading authority on 19th-century performance practice, praised the recording for its ‘rhythmic flexibility and expressive portamento as they might have been imagined by the composer.’
In 2019, De Neve founded the Quatuor Romantique, a string quartet dedicated to performing in romantic style on period instruments.
For more than thirty years, Guido De Neve has been a violin teacher; he is currently head of the violin department at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.