(Translated to English)
By Maurice Wiche
Vincent Kusters is a singer, pianist, organist and choir conductor and gives singing lessons to a number of monks in the Benedictine abbey in Mamelis. But his heart is in singing the song. On Friday he will perform pieces by living Limburg composers in the Dominicanen bookstore in Maastricht. “I never wanted to put myself in a box.”
During the ‘Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum’ festival Vincent Kusters and Charlie Bo Meijering won the 'Johann-Max-Böttcher-Preis' (first prize) as well as the prize for providing a concert that will take place on April 19, 2024 in the Landesvertretung Schleswig-Holstein in Berlin.
They took part in the master class and were allowed to present themselves during the final concert, in which all candidates competed for a number of coveted prizes.
The duo Kusters-Meijering also won the first prize in 2021. As a result, they were invited to provide the opening concert during the 22nd edition of the festival, together with organizers Ulf Bästlein (baritone) and Charles Spencer (piano). They performed, among others, the moving cycle 'Six Songs from a Shropshire Lad' (Butterworth), as well as the comical and little performed 'Die four Temperamente bei dem Verlust der Geliebten' (Weber).
Vincent Kusters and his duo partner Suzuha Hirayama (piano) participated during an intensive four day-long Masterclass, the so-called 2022 Piano Academy of the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland. The masters were Sir András Schiff and Kammersänger Robert Holl. It was an inspiring, interesting and highly educative course high up in the beautiful Alpes. An unforgettable experience!
Vincent Kusters and his duo-partner Charlie Bo Meijering competed during the first edition of the Internationalen Lied-Wettbewerbes Bolko von Hochberg 2022 "Hellas", in the beautiful city of Görlitz, from 12-16 Juni 2022. After reaching the finals they won the special prize for ‘die beste Interpretation eines Schubert-Liedes’. They won the prize because they impressed especially with a ‘refined and deep interpretation of the Schubert-Lieder’.
Photo: Matthias Wehnert
On Friday 22 October, Vincent Kusters and Charlie Bo Meijering won the Young Artist Platform organised by Internationaal Liedfestival Zeist. Six young, professional lied-duos, preselected by a jury, presented themselves to the the audience and a jury consisting of: Micha van Weers, Yoram Ish-Hurwitz, Elly Ameling, Robert Holl and Annett Andriessen. The prize consists of a recital during the Oxford Lieder Festival in October 2022 and the sixth International Lied Festival Zeist in May 2022.
The 20th masterclass for lied “Liedkunst im Schloss vor Husum” was held from the 26th until the 31st of July 2021. The lessons were given by renowned musicians and lied interpreters, baritone Ulf Bästlein and pianist Charles Spencer. Vincent Kusters and his duo partner Charlie Bo Meijering attended this year’s edition, and were awarded with the first prize for best lied duo.
Het Internationaler Schumann Wettbewerb 2020 werd vanwege de coronapandemie verplaatst naar 2021. Wegens de toen nog geldende maatregelen heeft het concours volledig online plaatsgevonden. Vincent Kusters heeft met zijn duo-partner pianist Charlie Bo Meijering deelgenomen en met als prachtig resultaat dat hij prijswinnaar is van het concours.
Vincent is de komende tijd te zien en te horen in de jongtalentproductie Magelone & Peter van de Nederlandse Reisopera. Het is een muzikale short story over de schoonheid van sleur en over trouwe liefde, met liederen uit de cyclus Die schöne Magelone van Johannes Brahms (1869). Lees hier een recensie en een interview.
In het najaar van 2018 werd Vincent toegelaten tot de solistenlijst van de Vereniging Vrienden van het Lied. Voor hem voelde dat als een erkenning van zijn vakmanschap, want: ‘Kijk je naar de zangers en pianisten die aan de Vrienden van het Lied verbonden zijn, dan staan daar grote namen tussen. Wanneer je daar dan als jonge zanger bij mag komen, geeft dat aan dat je een bepaalde kwaliteit vertegenwoordigt.’
