Duleen van Gunsteren, viola
©Juri-Hiensch
Duleen van Gunsteren was born in 1995 in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. He began his violin studies at the School voor Jong Talent of the Royal Conservatoire The Hague with Koosje van Haeringen before turning his focus to the viola. He studied with Ron Ephrat at Codarts Rotterdam and later with Marjolein Dispa-Knaven and Nobuko Imai at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
In 2023, he was awarded Third Prize at the Oskar Nedbal International Viola Competition in Prague, followed by Third Prize at the Triomphe de l’Art International Music Competition in Brussels in 2024. He has also received special prizes at the Kamermuziek Concours Gelre with Duo Van Gunsteren Keinänen (Grachtenfestival Prize, 2023) and at the Dutch National Viola Competition in Amsterdam (Leo Smit Prize, 2021). He has participated in masterclasses with, among others, Isabelle van Keulen, Garth Knox, Pierre-Henri Xuereb, Atte Kilpeläinen, Lilli Maijala, Anita Mitterer and Jean-Claude Vanden Eynden.
In 2020, together with Nathalie Flintrop and Kerttu Keinänen, Duleen founded the Noordwijk Chamber Music Festival, of which he serves as Artistic Director. The festival seeks to create connections between established artists and emerging talents, as well as between historically informed performance practice and contemporary creation. Within only a few editions, it has already commissioned and premiered new works, including Winter Tale by the French composer Aristide Moari, and has devoted a concert to Garth Knox in his dual role as composer and performer. Cellist Pieter Wispelwey is also a regular guest artist of the festival.
An active chamber musician, Duleen took part in the premiere of Calliope Tsoupaki’s Ver Aeternum in 2023, presented during the unveiling of Fiona Tan’s Het Grote Raam in Alkmaar. He also contributed to the recording of the album Bach Restored with Combattimento Consort Amsterdam.
He has collaborated with a wide range of orchestras and ensembles, including the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, the Residentie Orkest The Hague and ASKO|Schönberg.
As an educator, Duleen was mentored by the distinguished violin pedagogue Wiesje Miedema. Alongside his private teaching practice, he taught at the BplusC School of Music in Leiden during the 2022–2023 season and has been teaching at Muziekschool Waterland in Purmerend since 2024.
Duleen also has a strong interest in folk music, improvisation and singing.
Duleen van Gunsteren has been Artist in residence at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel since September 2024, under the direction of Miguel da Silva.
Last updated: 16 June 2026