Dick van der Harst is a musician, arranger and composer. He has been composer in residence at LOD since 1989. He has created music theatre productions with among others Thierry Salmon, Guy Cassiers, Alain Platel, Dominique Roodthooft, and Eric De Volder (eg. Diep in het bos / Deep in  the Wood (1999) and Achter 't eten / After eating (2003))

In addition to his work in music theatre, Van der Harst writes music for his own ensembles and for others.

Van der Harst uses jazz, classical and folk music in his compositions. He is continually in search of what authenticity can mean today. The result is music for which no model exists: he listens to music from other times, other countries, other cultures, and intuitively links these styles and genres with his own musical world, bringing about in the process his own artistic language. His music is deeply human, and allows the musicians who perform it a great degree of freedom. In 2001, Dick van der Harst was awarded the Louis Paul Boon Prize 'for his societal commitment and the bond with mankind that can be found in his entire oeuvre'. For this same reason the City of Ghent has recently invited him to become the Composer of the City of Ghent for the coming 2 years (2008-2009).

With LOD, his most recent work is on tour now: Stories of Europe, a music theatre production he created with guest resident Koen De Sutter is an original account of European history. Van der Harst is now preparing, amongst other things, an opera for a rock ensemble, based on the tragedy of Oedipus.