Sternefeld took private lessons with Renaat Veremans and Paul Gilson at the Royal Conservatory of Flanders in Antwerp, after which he studied conducting under Frank van der Stucken.
He completed his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Bernard Paumgartner, Clemens Krauss and Herbert von Karajan.
[2] He travelled the world as a guest director and also gave conducting classes at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp from 1948 until his retirement in 1971.
While his work as a conductor left him little time to compose, the last 17 years of his life were devoted to writing music.
[3] In his writings, a clear evolution can be traced from a late romantic musical language, by way of the chromaticism of Wagner and the sonority of Mahler and Richard Strauss, to lyrical expressionism.