Peter Ritzen studied piano and chamber music at the Royal Conservatory of his native city Ghent.

As a result of free classical improvising in concerts on the piano, he transcribed numerous Chinese folk songs, award-winning movie themes and Viennese waltzes.

Ritzen is the founder and artistic director of the International Theodor Leschetizky Summer Academy at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna) since 1991.

Between 2009 and 2014, Ritzen was invited by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to perform large scale piano concerts all over China.

In 2017, Ritzen conducted at the Golden Hall of Musikverein in Vienna, the New Cosmos Philharmonic, the world premiere of his Symphonic Poem, 'Die Wildrose'.

Ritzen was appointed in June 2019 as intendant of the Leschetizky World Congress on 3–5 October 2019 in Bad Ischl, Austria