Vincent Kusters

Dutch baritone Vincent Kusters feels at home in both oratorio and opera and has great affinity with classical art song. At an early age he sang in choirs and received his first piano lessons. After he started singing lessons at the music school in his birthplace Maastricht at the age of ten, performances as a boy soprano soon followed. In 2008 he was a prize winner in the category for voice of Princes Christina Concours.

At the age of sixteen, Vincent was admitted into the Young Talent Class of Conservatorium Maastricht, where he subsequently studied both singing and piano. He attained a Master’s in both studies in 2016 and 2017 respectively with Mya Besselink and Joop Celis. During his time in Maastricht, he studied singing in the winter of 2014/2015 with Reginaldo Pinheiro at the Hochschule für Musik Freiburg and a year later piano with Willem Brons at Conservatorium van Amsterdam. In 2018 he also completed the choral conducting application course at Utrechts Conservatorium.

During his studies, Vincent developed into a versatile musician who feels at home in various genres and diverse styles. He participated in several singing masterclasses with, among others: Elly Ameling; Robert Holl; Meinard Kraak; Maarten Koningsberger; Mozart Masterclass (IVC) with Thomas Oliemans, Roberta Alexander and Vesselina Kasarova; Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum with Ulf Bästlein en Charles Spencer; Grote Zangers with Sergei Leiferkus..

Vincent has won several prizes for his song interpretation, such as the Vocallis Liedprijs (Vaals, 2017 and 2018) and he is prize winner of the Schumann Wettbewerb (Zwickau, 2020/2021). Together with his duo partner, pianist Charlie Bo Meijering, he won the prize 'Friends of the IVC ('s-Herthogenbosch, 2019), 1st prize during 'Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum' (2021), 'Young Artist Platform' of International Lied Festival Zeist (2021) and a special ‘ Schubert’ prize during Bolko von Hochberg Lied Competition (Görlitz, 2022). He also won the 1st prize at Internationaler Wettbewerb für Orgel und Gesang (Neuss, 2020).

His career in solo singing is complimented by his work as organist-conductor at the Bartholomeuskerk in Eckelrade and as organist-cantor at the Martinuskerk in Gronsveld. Furthermore, Vincent also performs as an accompanist for singers, and is a member of Schola Maastricht (Gregorian chant).

www.vincent-kusters.com