From 1960 to 1964 he participated annually in the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, where he came into contact with Pierre Boulez, Bruno Maderna, Luciano Berio, György Ligeti, and Mauricio Kagel, amongst others.
In 1972, together with Herman Sabbe, he founded the Belgian section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM), and has been its chairperson ever since.
[3] Laporte's earliest compositions, such as the 1954 piano sonata, are neoclassical in character but, beginning in the 1960s, his work was increasingly influenced by the Darmstadt School avant garde.
For example, his opera Das Schloss (1981–85, based on Franz Kafka's The Castle), quotes from Berg and Wagner, and the orchestral work Nachtmuziek (1970–71) contains citations from Mozart.
[7] His Fantasia-Rondino con tema reale for violin and orchestra, composed for the 1989 Queen Elisabeth [of Belgium] Competition, introduces national and royalist symbolism, first by using as tonal centres the notes B, G, and E drawn from the letters of the word "Belgique", second through the use of the Belgian national anthem, and third by the invention for the rondino of a "royal theme" composed of notes drawn from the names of the three most recent royal couples: EliSABetH, ALBErt, LEopolD, AStriD, FABiolA, BouDEwijn.